When is a tweet considered news? This study uses an experimental design to isolate two features of a headline shared on Twitter to determine the impact on audience ratings of ‘news-ness.’ We examine how people rate a Twitter post about potential government shutdown depending on: the type of story headline (breaking, exclusive, fact check, opinion), and the source of the story/tweet (Associated Press, MSNBC, Fox News). Results show that headline story type and source separately impact news-ness, with partisanship conditioning the influence of source on news-ness. Moreover, we find that ratings of news-ness mediate these effects on intent to verify tweet content, such that higher ratings of news-ness results in lower intent to verify. We argue that more attention needs to be paid to the central role that perceptions of news-ness plays in driving a range of outcomes in today’s social media environment.
CITATION STYLE
Edgerly, S., & Vraga, E. K. (2020). That’s Not News: Audience Perceptions of “News-ness” and Why It Matters. Mass Communication and Society, 23(5), 730–754. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2020.1729383
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