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“News comes across when I’m in a moment of leisure”: Understanding the practices of incidental news consumption on social media

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New Media & Society
Authors:
Pablo J Boczkowski
Pablo J Boczkowski
Pablo J Boczkowski
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Eugenia Mitchelstein at University of San Andrés
Eugenia Mitchelstein
Mora Matassi at Northwestern University
Mora Matassi
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Abstract

Incidental consumption of news on social media has risen in recent years, particularly among young people. Previous studies have characterized what the main dimensions and effects of this phenomenon are. In this article, we complement that literature by looking at how this phenomenon unfolds. Inspired by practice theory, we aim to answer two questions: (1) what are the practices that subtend incidental news consumption on social media among young people? and (2) What are the social consequences of these practices? We draw upon 50 in-depth interviews with respondents aged 18–29 years from Argentina. Our findings show the existence of (1) strong connections between technology and content, “anywhere and anytime” coordinates, derivative information routines, and increasingly mediated sociability and (2) fragmentary reading patterns, loss of hierarchy of the news, and coexistence of editorial, algorithmic, and social filtering. We conclude by elaborating on the empirical and theoretical implications of these findings.
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817750396
new media & society
2018, Vol. 20(10) 3523 –3539
© The Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/1461444817750396
journals.sagepub.com/home/nms
“News comes across when
I’m in a moment of leisure”:
Understanding the practices
of incidental news
consumption on social media
Pablo J Boczkowski
Northwestern University, USA
Eugenia Mitchelstein
Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina
Mora Matassi
Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA
Abstract
Incidental consumption of news on social media has risen in recent years, particularly
among young people. Previous studies have characterized what the main dimensions
and effects of this phenomenon are. In this article, we complement that literature by
looking at how this phenomenon unfolds. Inspired by practice theory, we aim to answer
two questions: (1) what are the practices that subtend incidental news consumption on
social media among young people? and (2) What are the social consequences of these
practices? We draw upon 50 in-depth interviews with respondents aged 18–29 years
from Argentina. Our findings show the existence of (1) strong connections between
technology and content, “anywhere and anytime” coordinates, derivative information
routines, and increasingly mediated sociability and (2) fragmentary reading patterns, loss
of hierarchy of the news, and coexistence of editorial, algorithmic, and social filtering.
We conclude by elaborating on the empirical and theoretical implications of these
findings.
Corresponding author:
Pablo J Boczkowski, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208-0001, USA.
Email: pjb9@northwestern.edu
750396NMS0010.1177/1461444817750396new media & societyBoczkowski etal.
research-article2018
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Unfortunately, I do not have an electronic file for Setting the Agenda. Best wishes for your research, Max McCombs
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