10.7456/ctc_2017_01

RESEARCH INTO NEWS SHARING ON TWITTER AND ITS CONVERGENCE WITH THE MEANS OF MASS MEDIA

And ALGÜL

 

ABSTRACT

The need of an individual for news is greater than ever in the modern world, where there is a continuous stream of information and news. The widespread use of mobile devices to satisfy this need, the access to the Social Media by means of mobile devices upon the increases in mobile use and possibilities, the formation of clusters in the new media by users accordingly and the fact that the media organizations carried news to the Social Media in order to include the clustered users in their masses of viewers/readers created convergence between the news media and the Social Media. In this context, some 477 respondents were surveyed by employing the method of random sampling in September 2015 in order to reveal what the tendencies of users towards news sharing on Twitter were, whether the means of mass media had any convergence effect on the sharing of news content, and which demographic elements were effective on news sharing on Twitter and its convergence with the means of mass media. In the research, it was concluded that the university students preferred the Social Media also in order to acquire news, that the media features of Twitter positively affected news sharing owing to its unique and characteristic structure, that the users tended to share the agenda and political news on Twitter by either posting original current tweets or retweeting, that there was an increase in the frequency of using independent news (independent news sites and blogs) sources as they attached importance to tweeting or retweeting the accurate news, and that this turned Twitter into an alternative news center rather than a social network. Regarding Twitter news convergence with the means of mass media, it turned out that the convergence of magazines and radio with Twitter was not as strong as that of television and newspapers. Finally, it was discovered that the ages and employment statuses of the respondents were effective demographic elements with respect to tweeting news on Twitter, whereas the financial income condition, which made it possible to access the media, was the effective demographic element in the context of Twitter news convergence with the means of mass media.

 

Keywords: Twitter, News Sharing, Uses and Gratifications, Convergence.

 

FULL PAPER

PDF

 

REFERENCES

 

[1]        Akçay, H. (2011). Kullanımlar ve Doyumlar Yaklaşımı Bağlamında Sosyal Medya Kullanımı: Gümüşhane Üniversitesi Üzerine Bir Araştırma. Gazi Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi İletişim Kuram ve Uygulama Dergisi, 33(1), 137-162.

[2]        Alikılıç, Ö., Gülay, G. & Binbir, S. (2013). Kullanımlar ve Doyumlar Kuramı Çerçevesinde Facebook Uygulamalarının İncelenmesi: Yaşar Üniversitesi Öğrencileri Üzerine Bir Araştırma. İletişim Kuram ve Araştırma Dergisi (37), 40-67.

[3]        Ariens, C. (2009, February 28). Twitter: A “Gateway Drug to Full-Blown Media Narcissism”? Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/digital/twitter-a-gateway-drug-to-full-blown-media-narcissism

[4]        Barthel, M., Shearer, E., Gottfried, J. & Mitchell, A. (2015, July 14). The Evolving Role of News on Twitter and Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.journalism.org/2015/07/14/the-evolving-role-of-news-on-twitter-and-facebook

[5]        Cangöz, N. (2016). İletişim Fakültesi Öğrencilerinin Kullanımlar ve Doyumlar Yaklaşımı Çerçevesinde Sosyal Medya Kullanım Alışkanlıkları. Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 39, 423-441.

[6]        Chen, M. G. (2011). Tweet This: A Uses And Gratifications Perspective on How Active Twitter Use Gratifies A Need To Connect With Others. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 755-762.

[7]        Chung, D. S. & Kim, S. (2008). Blogging Activity Among Cancer Patients and Their Companions: Uses, Gratifications, and Predictors of Outcomes. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(2), 297-306.

[8]        Cozma, R. & Chen, K.-J. (2013). What’s in a Tweet? Journalism Practice, 7(1), 33-46.

[9]        Enli, G. (2017). Twitter as Arena for the Authentic Outsider: Exploring the Social Media Campaigns of Trumps and Clinton in the 2016 US Presidental Election. European Journal of Communication, 32(1), 50-61.

[10]      Erdoğan, İ. & Alemdar, K. (2005). Öteki Kuram: Kitle İletişim Kuram ve Araştırmalarının Tarihsel ve Eleştirel Bir Değerlendirilmesi. Ankara: Erk Publishing.

[11]      Goffman, E. (2014). Günlük Yaşamda Benliğin Sunumu. (B. Cezar, Trans.) İstanbul: Metis Publishing.

[12]      Greenwood, S., Perrin, A. & Duggan, M. (2016, November 11). Social Media Update 2016. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016

[13]      Highfield, T., Harrington, S. & Bruns, A. (2013). Twitter as a Technology for Audiencing and Fandom: The #Eurovision Phenomenon. Information, Communication & Society, 16(3), 315-339.

[14]      Hughes, A. L. & Palen, L. (2009). Twitter Adoption and Use in Mass Convergence and Emergency Events. International Journal of Emergency Management, 6(3/4), 248-260. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215500880_Twitter_Adoption_and_Use_in_Mass_Convergence_and_Emergency_Events

[15]      İspir, B. (2013). Yeni İletişim Teknolojilerinin Gelişimi. In C. Ö. Mesude (Ed.), Dijital İletişim ve Yeni Medya (pp. 2-24). Eskişehir: T.C. Anadolu University Publishing.

[16]      Johnson, P. R. & Yang, S.-U. (2009). Uses and Graftifications of Twitter: An Examination of User Motives and Satisfaction of Twitter Use. Paper presented at Communication Technology Division of the Annual Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, (pp. 1-32). Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228959109_Uses_and_gratifications_of_Twitter_An_examination_of_user_motives_and_satisfaction_of_Twitter_use

[17]      Kaymaz, Ö. T. (2013). Kanaat Önderi Kavramının Yeni Mecrası. In International Conference on Communication, Media, Technology and Design Conference Proceedings. Paper presented at II International Conference on Communication, Media, Technology and Design, 02-04 May (pp. 357-359). Famagusta, North Cyprus. Retrieved from http://www.cmdconf.net/2013/Proceedings/Proceedings.pdf

[18]      Ko, H., Cho, C. & Roberts, M. S. (2005). Internet Uses and Gratifications: A Structural Equation Model of Internet Advertising. Journal of Advertising, 34(2), 57-70.

[19]      Kwak, H., Lee, C., Park, H. & Moon, S. (2010). What is Twitter, a Social Network or a News Media? In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on the World Wide Web (pp. 591-600). New York: ACM.

[20]      LaRose, R. & Eastin, M. S. (2004). A Social Cognitive Theory of Internet Uses and Gratifications: Toward a New Model of Media Attendance. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 48(3), 358-377.

[21]      Leary, M. R. & Kowalski, R. M. (1990). Impression Management: A Literature Review and Two-Component Model. Psychological Bulletin, 107(1), 34-47.

[22]      Li, M. M. (2011). An Examination of Microblog as News Source among University Students in Mainland China (Master’s thesis, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Journalism and Communication, New Media). Retrieved from http://pg.com.cuhk.edu.hk/pgp_nm/projects/2011/Maria%20Muyang%20LI.pdf

[23]      Lievrouw, L. A. (2016). Alternatif ve Aktivist Yeni Medya. (İ. S. Temizalp, Trans.) İstanbul: Kafya Publishing.

[24]      Lipsman, A. (2009). Breaking News (and Making News): Twitter Surges 131% in March to 9.3 Million U.S. Visitors. Retrieved from https://www.comscore.com/ita/Insights/Blog/Breaking-News-and-Making-News-Twitter-Surges-131-in-March-to-9.3-Million-U.S.-Visitors

[25]      Liu, H. (2007). Social Network Profiles as Taste of Performances. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 252-275.

[26]      Marwick, A. E. & boyd, d. (2010). I Tweet Honestly, I Tweet Passionately: Twitter Users, Context Collapse, and The Imagined Audience. New Media & Society, 114-133.

[27]      Matsa, K. E. (2016, Mayıs 9). Facebook, Twitter Play Different Roles in Connecting Mobile Readers to News. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/09/facebook-twitter-mobile-news

[28]      McKinney, B. C., Kelly, L. & Duran, R. L. (2012). Narcissism or Openness?: College Students’ Use of Facebook and Twitter. Communication Research Reports, 29(2), 108-118.

[29]      Mitchelstein, E. & Boczkowski, P. (2010). Online News Consumption Research: An Assessment of Past Work And An Agenda For The Future. New Media & Society, 12(7), 1085-1102.

[30]      O’Sullivan, T., Hartley, J., Saunders, D., Montgomery, M. & Fiske, J. (1994). Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies. London: Routledge.

[31]      Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The Presentation of Self in Virtual Life: Characteristics of Personal Home Pages. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 79(3), 643-660.

[32]      Puschmann, C. & Burgess, J. (2014). The Politics of Twitter Data. In K. Weller, A. Bruns, J. Burgess, M. Mahrt, & C. Puschmann (Eds.), Twitter and Society (pp. 43-54). New York: Peter Lang.

[33]      Saaid, S. A., Al-Rashid, N. A. & Abdullah, Z. (2014). The Impact of Addiction to Twitter among University Students. In J. Park, I. Stojmenovic, M. Choi, & F. Xhafa (Eds.), Future Information Technology. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering (pp. 213-236). Berlin: Springer. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-40861-8_35

[34]      Sabuncuoğlu, A. & Gülay, G. (2014). Sosyal Medyadaki Yeni Kanaat Önderlerinin Birer Reklam Aracı Olarak Kullanımı: Twitter Fenomenleri Üzerine Bir Araştırma. İletişim Kuram ve Araştırma Dergisi, 38, 1-23.

[35]      Sakaki, T., Okazaki, M. & Matsuo, Y. (2010). Earthquake Shakes Twitter Users: Real-Time Event Detection by Social Sensors. In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on World Wide Web. Paper presented at 19th International World Wide Web Conference, 26-30 April (pp. 851-860). North Carolina. Retrieved from http://ymatsuo.com/papers/www2010.pdf

[36]      Sarno. (2009, March 11). On Twitter, Mindcasting is the New Lifecasting. Retrieved from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/03/on-twitter-mind.html

[37]      Senft, T. M. (2008). Camgirls, Celebrity & Comminty in the Age of Social Networks. New York: Peter Lang.

[38]      Shah, D. V. & Scheufele, D. A. (2006). Explicating Opinion Leadership: Nonpolitical Dispositions, Information Consumption, and Civic Participation. Political Communication, 23(1), 1-22.

[39]      Sheffer, M. L. & Schultz, B. (2010). Paradigm Shift or Passing Fad? Twitter and Sports Journalism. International Journal of Sport Communication, 3, 472-484.

[40]      Shim, H., You, K., Lee, J. K. & Go, E. (2015). Why Do People Access News With Mobile Devices? Exploring the Role of Suitability Perception and Motives on Mobile News Use. Telematics and Informatics, 32(1), 108-117.

[41]      Statista. (2017). Number of monthly active Twitter users worldwide from 1st quarter 2010 to 1st quarter 2017 (in millions). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/282087/number-of-monthly-active-twitter-users

[42]      Uzun, R. (2013). İzleyici Merkezli Yaklaşımlar. In E. Yüksel (Ed.), İletişim Kuramları (pp. 84-105). Eskişehir: T.C. Anadolu University Publishing.

[43]      Vascellaro, J. E. (2009, May 26). Twitter Trips on Its Rapid Growth. Retrieved from http://globaldevelopmentnews.blogspot.com.tr/2009/05/twitter-trips-on-its-rapid-growth.html

[44]      Yüksel, E. (2013). İletişim Kuramlarına Giriş. In E. Yüksel (Ed.), İletişim Kuramları (pp. 2-33). Eskişehir: T.C. Anadolu University Publishing.