Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2022 |
Outros Autores: | , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i1.4775 |
Resumo: | The EU is diagnosed with a participation deficit, rooted in a lack of public communication. While news media are the primary source of information about EU politics, social media have become an important channel for political information. Importantly, social media platforms offer unique opportunities for citizens to engage with information about the EU. Such engagement is under-researched despite users’ responses offering valuable information about the potential effects of EU news on public engagement. Therefore, we systematically analyze social media users’ engagement with news about the EU. Drawing on the concepts of news values and shareworthiness, we investigate the proximity, conflictuality, negativity, and emotionality of EU news content posted on mainstream media Facebook accounts to explain the variation in reactions, shares, and number of comments. Using semi-supervised machine learning, we analyze articles from the largest newspapers in Austria for the period 2015–2019, along with Facebook users’ reactions to them. Results resonate only partly with prior literature, with negativity of EU news leading to more reactions and shares but fewer comments; emotionality, to fewer reactions and shares but more comments; and conflict mainly decreasing user engagement. Concerning proximity, a national angle leads to distinctly more engagement, whereas news about other EU member states and the EU as such do mostly not. Our study contributes to the discussion on how citizens engage with information on the EU and how to promote informed debate on social media through elites’ communication. |
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Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristicsautomated content analysis; computational methods; European Union; Facebook; news; social media; user engagementThe EU is diagnosed with a participation deficit, rooted in a lack of public communication. While news media are the primary source of information about EU politics, social media have become an important channel for political information. Importantly, social media platforms offer unique opportunities for citizens to engage with information about the EU. Such engagement is under-researched despite users’ responses offering valuable information about the potential effects of EU news on public engagement. Therefore, we systematically analyze social media users’ engagement with news about the EU. Drawing on the concepts of news values and shareworthiness, we investigate the proximity, conflictuality, negativity, and emotionality of EU news content posted on mainstream media Facebook accounts to explain the variation in reactions, shares, and number of comments. Using semi-supervised machine learning, we analyze articles from the largest newspapers in Austria for the period 2015–2019, along with Facebook users’ reactions to them. Results resonate only partly with prior literature, with negativity of EU news leading to more reactions and shares but fewer comments; emotionality, to fewer reactions and shares but more comments; and conflict mainly decreasing user engagement. Concerning proximity, a national angle leads to distinctly more engagement, whereas news about other EU member states and the EU as such do mostly not. Our study contributes to the discussion on how citizens engage with information on the EU and how to promote informed debate on social media through elites’ communication.Cogitatio2022-02-17info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i1.4775oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/4775Politics and Governance; Vol 10, No 1 (2022): Analyzing Citizen Engagement with European Politics Through Social Media; 121-1322183-2463reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPenghttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4775https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i1.4775https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4775/4775https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/downloadSuppFile/4775/2272Copyright (c) 2022 Tobias Heidenreich, Olga Eisele, Kohei Watanabe, Hajo G. Boomgaardenhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessHeidenreich, TobiasEisele, OlgaWatanabe, KoheiBoomgaarden, Hajo G.2022-12-22T15:16:19Zoai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/4775Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T16:22:20.176542Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics |
title |
Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics |
spellingShingle |
Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics Heidenreich, Tobias automated content analysis; computational methods; European Union; Facebook; news; social media; user engagement |
title_short |
Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics |
title_full |
Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics |
title_fullStr |
Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics |
title_sort |
Exploring Engagement With EU News on Facebook: The Influence of Content Characteristics |
author |
Heidenreich, Tobias |
author_facet |
Heidenreich, Tobias Eisele, Olga Watanabe, Kohei Boomgaarden, Hajo G. |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Eisele, Olga Watanabe, Kohei Boomgaarden, Hajo G. |
author2_role |
author author author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Heidenreich, Tobias Eisele, Olga Watanabe, Kohei Boomgaarden, Hajo G. |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
automated content analysis; computational methods; European Union; Facebook; news; social media; user engagement |
topic |
automated content analysis; computational methods; European Union; Facebook; news; social media; user engagement |
description |
The EU is diagnosed with a participation deficit, rooted in a lack of public communication. While news media are the primary source of information about EU politics, social media have become an important channel for political information. Importantly, social media platforms offer unique opportunities for citizens to engage with information about the EU. Such engagement is under-researched despite users’ responses offering valuable information about the potential effects of EU news on public engagement. Therefore, we systematically analyze social media users’ engagement with news about the EU. Drawing on the concepts of news values and shareworthiness, we investigate the proximity, conflictuality, negativity, and emotionality of EU news content posted on mainstream media Facebook accounts to explain the variation in reactions, shares, and number of comments. Using semi-supervised machine learning, we analyze articles from the largest newspapers in Austria for the period 2015–2019, along with Facebook users’ reactions to them. Results resonate only partly with prior literature, with negativity of EU news leading to more reactions and shares but fewer comments; emotionality, to fewer reactions and shares but more comments; and conflict mainly decreasing user engagement. Concerning proximity, a national angle leads to distinctly more engagement, whereas news about other EU member states and the EU as such do mostly not. Our study contributes to the discussion on how citizens engage with information on the EU and how to promote informed debate on social media through elites’ communication. |
publishDate |
2022 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2022-02-17 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i1.4775 oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/4775 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i1.4775 |
identifier_str_mv |
oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/4775 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4775 https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i1.4775 https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4775/4775 https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/downloadSuppFile/4775/2272 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2022 Tobias Heidenreich, Olga Eisele, Kohei Watanabe, Hajo G. Boomgaarden http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2022 Tobias Heidenreich, Olga Eisele, Kohei Watanabe, Hajo G. Boomgaarden http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cogitatio |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cogitatio |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
Politics and Governance; Vol 10, No 1 (2022): Analyzing Citizen Engagement with European Politics Through Social Media; 121-132 2183-2463 reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
instname_str |
Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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1799130668868829184 |