What prompts users to click and comment: A longitudinal study of online news. (February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tenenboim, Ori; Cohen, Akiba A
• Is Part Of: Journalism. Volume 16:Number 2(2015)
• Page Start: 198
• Page End: 217
• Publication Date: 2015-02
• Subjects: Online journalism -- user comments -- audience -- ratings -- interactive -- Israel; Journalism -- Periodicals; Journalism -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 070.405
• DOI: 10.1177/1464884913513996
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1464-8849

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between two mechanisms of online participation – clicking and commenting – as well as the characteristics of heavily clicked versus highly commented-upon news items. Based on 15, 431 items from a popular Israeli website, correlations between clicking and commenting were calculated for 12 separately analysed months from 2006 to 2011. In addition, overlap rates were determined, showing that 40–59% of the heavily clicked items in any given month were different from the highly commented-upon items. A subsequent content analysis indicated that while sensational topics and curiosity-arousing elements were more prominent among the heavily clicked items than among the highly commented-upon items, political/social topics and controversial elements were more prominent among the highly commented-upon items. The study contributes to deepening our understanding of the role of user comments in constructing social/group identity and offers a new perspective on a prolonged controversy surrounding audiences' news preferences.