Is social VR possible to be the new journalism? The effects of other users’ opinions on the attitude and perception of public opinion when consuming contents in VR

Abstract

Currently, it is the consumer journalism era in which the media consumers have effects on articles by actively suggesting their opinions, based on the technical development. Under this circumstance, this study aimed to provide a new method in which VR(Virtual Reality) consumes the media, and also to verify the possibility of becoming a new place for communication. Methods/Statistical analysis: Targeting total 40 ordinary people in Seoul, an experiment was conducted in four situations(wearing of HMD vs non-wearing*checking of chatting room vs no checking). The subjects were asked to fill out the questionnaire after reading all the article and chatting, and based on the results, the differences in the evaluation of the article between experimental group and control group were verified by using the one-way ANOVA. Findings: In the results of the experiment, the chatting with residents had effects on the evaluation of the article while the matter of wearing HMD did not show the moderating effects. In other words, in case of being exposed to opinions against the contents of the article, the news consumers would have more negative perception of the article. However, the matter of wearing HMD did not mediate the effects of other users' opinions on the attitude toward the article in VR. Improvements/Applications: The possibility of changes in the media use pattern could be suggested to media consumers. And the possibility of creating the new business models through the two-way communication of news could be suggested to the press. Also, to the policy makers and marketers, the opinions of VR could be used as a barometer for understanding the public opinion of consumers and people.