Unpacking news engagement through the perceived affordances of social media: A cross-platform, cross-country approach

Abstract

In the extant ample research on news engagement on social media, a majority of studies thus far have centered mainly on users’ motivations, gratifications, and characteristics and less on platforms in which they operate. Yet, it is well recognized that users’ behavior is shaped by technological interfaces, and that users differentiate between platforms and switch to suit their specific needs. The current study, therefore, adopts a cross-platform (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and instant messaging apps) approach to explore how users’ engagement with news varies, with a focus on users’ perceptions of platforms’ affordances as a main predictor. Based on an online survey in eight countries (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong, and Japan), the study identifies as key affordances, which determine both receiving and dissemination of news, users’ perceptions regarding a platform’s personalization, network association, anonymity, and content persistence. The findings also highlight the differences between countries and between platforms.