{"title":"Navigating Social Media News Use: Exploring the Impact of Intentional and Incidental News Consumption on Objective and Subjective Political Knowledge","authors":"Jana H. Dreston, German Neubaum","doi":"10.1177/00936502251317818","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Research consistently shows that while social media use does not enhance objective political knowledge, it increases users’ sense of being knowledgeable (subjective knowledge). However, it is unclear which specific modes of social media use lead users to an enhanced feeling of being knowledgeable. This work focuses on two factors that are believed to shape users’ subjective knowledge when using social technologies: (a) the intentionality of social media use (intentional vs. incidental news consumption) and (b) the relevance of the news content. In a pre-registered, two-wave experiment ( N = 921), participants were exposed to either personally relevant or non-relevant topics on social media, either intentionally or incidentally. The results indicated that while intentionality of exposure did not affect subjective knowledge, intentional news search improved objective knowledge more than incidental exposure. The latter can still facilitate objective knowledge and increase subjective knowledge, as long as the news is considered as highly relevant.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Communication Research","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251317818","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Research consistently shows that while social media use does not enhance objective political knowledge, it increases users’ sense of being knowledgeable (subjective knowledge). However, it is unclear which specific modes of social media use lead users to an enhanced feeling of being knowledgeable. This work focuses on two factors that are believed to shape users’ subjective knowledge when using social technologies: (a) the intentionality of social media use (intentional vs. incidental news consumption) and (b) the relevance of the news content. In a pre-registered, two-wave experiment ( N = 921), participants were exposed to either personally relevant or non-relevant topics on social media, either intentionally or incidentally. The results indicated that while intentionality of exposure did not affect subjective knowledge, intentional news search improved objective knowledge more than incidental exposure. The latter can still facilitate objective knowledge and increase subjective knowledge, as long as the news is considered as highly relevant.
期刊介绍：
Empirical research in communication began in the 20th century, and there are more researchers pursuing answers to communication questions today than at any other time. The editorial goal of Communication Research is to offer a special opportunity for reflection and change in the new millennium. To qualify for publication, research should, first, be explicitly tied to some form of communication; second, be theoretically driven with results that inform theory; third, use the most rigorous empirical methods; and fourth, be directly linked to the most important problems and issues facing humankind. Critieria do not privilege any particular context; indeed, we believe that the key problems facing humankind occur in close relationships, groups, organiations, and cultures.
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
