Mobile news access, mobile news repertoires, and users’ tendency to talk about the news – an experience sampling study on mobile news consumption

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Over the past three decades, our media ecologies have substantially transformed, changing how people get in touch with the news. These changes have also led to higher variability in news access across users’ daily lives. Using the microcosm of mobile news consumption as a proxy for the changes in our general news use, we explore types of mobile news access and mobile news repertoires and their relations to users’ tendency to talk about the news. Our exploratory study aims to describe intra- and inter-personal variations in mobile news use. By taking this fine-grained perspective on mobile news use, we provide a more comprehensive assessment than cross-sectional studies, which is valuable to researchers and practitioners in mobile news. Methodology We conducted a 14-day experience sampling study among 72 young adult Germans. We received 2,211 filled-in in-situ questionnaires based on three daily alerts, reporting on 560 mobile news situations. We used multi-level latent class analysis to simultaneously assess patterns of mobile news access and mobile news repertoires. Findings We uncover five distinct types of mobile news access embedded in four mobile news repertoires. These findings highlight the considerable intra-individual heterogeneity in mobile news use. However, these heterogeneities only scarcely manifest in users’ tendency to talk about the news. Practical and social value Our study highlights the importance of acknowledging intra-individual variation when studying news use and its implications. Most importantly, we see that no mobile news repertoire among our sample relies solely on social media-based mobile news access. Researchers and practitioners must acknowledge these heterogeneities when discussing the benefits and perils of social media-based news access.