Understanding Audience Engagement with Mainstream and Alternative News Posts on Facebook

Bibliographic Data

ID22011069
AuthorsDan Hiaeshutter-Rice (0000-0003-3204-5548, Michigan State University, corresponding author), Brian E Weeks (0000-0003-2355-2302, University of Michigan), Brian Weeks (University of Michigan)
Year2021
Volume9
Issue5
Pages519-548
Publication date2021-05-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigital Journalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-0811 • E-ISSN: 2167-082X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21670811.2021.1924068
OpenAlexW3168427892
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited50

Facebook is an integral part of the American news environment. Substantial numbers of users now seek or encounter news on the platform and news organizations depend on the site to build audiences and drive traffic to their websites. At the same time, Facebook has also become a space for people to engage alternative sources of news and political information, including highly partisan and ideological sources. Yet we know relatively little about the types of news sources Americans engage with most frequently on the platform. In this study, we evaluate the scope of news and information sources on Facebook, including engagement with these sources. We analyse nearly 12 million Facebook posts from 416 news organizations between 2012 and 2017. We find that the sources that receive the most user engagement are often the most ideologically extreme. We also find that alternative outlets that are politically conservative frequently get more engagement, which may provide them an outsized presence on users’ newsfeeds

Advertising · Business · Fake news · Ideology · Internet privacy · Mainstream · Media studies · News media · News values · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social media · Sociology · Computer Science · Media Studies and Communication · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media and Politics

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