Not Quite Filling the Void: Comparing the Perceptions of Local Online Groups and Local Media Pages on Facebook

Abstract

With the steady closure of local newspapers, news consumers increasingly turn to community forums and neighborhood apps to fill the information void. This study investigates how local online groups are perceived relative to more traditional local news outlets, and compares the benefits provided by each information source. Based on prior theoretical contributions, we develop a framework for measuring the benefits of local information on individual-level pro-community attitudes (attachment, knowledge, and civic attitudes.) In a field experiment (N=170), we asked frequent Facebook users living in four U.S. cities to start following local news pages or local online groups on Facebook for one month, and compared their perceptions of source quality and changes in pro-community attitudes. We find that posts from local news pages are perceived to be of higher quality than posts from local online groups. However, following local news pages or local groups did not lead to significant changes in pro-community attitudes during our study period. We discuss implications for the future study of local news in a changing media ecology.