Impact of Popularity Indications on Readers' Selective Exposure to Online News

TLDR

Online news selection differs from traditional media because formal importance indicators do not translate directly, and portals instead use collaborative filtering recommendations. The study investigates how explicit and implicit recommendation signals influence readers’ article selection and exposure. Ninety‑three participants browsed a news portal with explicit, implicit, or no recommendation cues, and their article choices and viewing times were recorded. Explicit recommendations led to more article picks and longer exposure, especially with stronger signals, whereas implicit recommendations produced a curvilinear pattern with longer exposure at both low and high levels.

Abstract

Abstract Selecting news online may differ from traditional news choices, as most formal importance indicators in traditional media do not convert directly to online news. However, online portals feature news recommendations based on collaborative filtering. To investigate how recommendations affect information choices, 93 participants browsed online news that featured explicit (average rating) or implicit (times viewed) recommendations or no recommendations (control group) while news exposure was logged. Participants picked more articles if the portal featured explicit recommendations, and stronger explicit recommendations instigated longer exposure to associated articles. Implicit recommendations produced a curvilinear effect with longer exposure for low and high numbers.