Examining News Engagement on Facebook: Effects of News Content and Social Networks on News Engagement

Abstract

This study investigates to what extent news content and the mediating effect of social networks influence news engagement on Facebook. The study identifies three key factors of news consumption on social media—news content attributes, social networks, and news engagement—to illustrate how much each variable explains perceived news engagement on Facebook. The relationships among the three factors are estimated with a mediation model. Results suggest that social networks may have a smaller influence in the distribution of news online than currently believed while simultaneously mediating the effect of news content on social media news engagement.