The smartphone as a tool for mobile communication research: Assessing mobile campaign perceptions and effects with experience sampling

Mobile communication differs from other forms of mediated communication in terms of connectedness, dynamics, omnipresence, and interactivity. Consequently, it can be difficult for scholars to investigate mobile communication using traditional research methods. The main goal of this article is to show how the mobile experience sampling method (MESM), in combination with data donations, can be useful for addressing the challenges of mobile communication research. We explicate the design using an experience-sampling study that was conducted on mobile campaigning during the Dutch 2021 national election. Using this case, we discuss how MESM can be extended and combined with other data sources, such as tracking data, GPS, and sensory data, to address the challenges of mobile communication effects research and facilitate future studies

Instaworthy? Examining the Effects of (Targeted) Civic Education Ads on Instagram

The last few years have witnessed a growing societal and scholarly interest in the potential of online political microtargeting to affect election outcomes in favor of parties and candidates. It has often been rightly pointed out that political microtargeting can pose risks to electoral integrity in democracies. But can political microtargeting also benefit democratic functioning? Very little is known about the potential of political microtargeting to affect citizens’ attitudes towards politics and increase their civic participation. To address this paucity, this article presents a preregistered online experiment conducted in Germany among young adults (N = 445), examining whether (targeted) civic education ads on Instagram increase political interest, efficacy, and civic participation. An innovative methodological approach to studying political microtargeting is deployed, exposing respondents to civic education ads in a mock Instagram feed, personalized in real-time based on individual preferences. We find no direct evidence of (targeted) civic education ads, leading us to believe that (targeted) ads do not unconditionally affect political interest, efficacy, or civic participation

Audiovisual infotainment in European news: A comparative content analysis of Dutch, Spanish, and Irish television news programs

This study investigates to what extent audiovisual infotainment features can be found in the narrative structure of television news in three European countries. Content analysis included a sample of 639 news reports aired in the first 3 weeks of September 2013, in six prime-time TV news broadcasts of Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands. It was found that Spain and Ireland included more technical features of infotainment in television news compared to the Netherlands. Also, the use of infotainment techniques is more often present in commercial, than in public broadcasting. Finally, the findings indicate no clear pattern of the use of infotainment techniques across news topics as coded in this study

The Mix of Media Use Matters : Investigating the Effects of Individual News Repertoires on Offline and Online Political Participation

In contemporary high-choice media environments, people increasingly mix and combine their use of various news media into personal news repertoires. Despite this, there is still limited research on how people compose their individual news repertoires and the effects of these news repertoires. To address this and further our understanding of how media use influences political participation, this study investigates (a) how people combine the use of offline and online media into personal news repertoires and (b) the effects of different news repertoires on both offline and online political participation. Based on a two-wave panel study covering the 2014 Swedish national election, this study identifies five news repertoires, labeled minimalists, public news consumers, local news consumers, social media news consumers, and popular online news consumers. Among other things, the results show that social media news consumers are more likely to participate in politics both offline and online

Internet use and political interest : Growth curves, reinforcing spirals, and causal effects during adolescence

This study analyzes reinforcing spirals between online media usage and political interest among adolescents. By applying a two-dimensional conceptualization of online media usage that distinguishes between content and interactivity characteristics, the study focuses on the mechanisms and processes stimulating the long-term development of political interest during adolescence. Findings from a unique, six-wave panel study conducted in Sweden over a period of 5 years suggest that reinforcing spirals are driven primarily by non-interactive political information usages of online media. These results contribute to a better understanding of the factors leading to the development of political interest during a crucial life phase, as well as the growing body of literature that theorize media and selection effects as part of reinforcing processes during adolescence

How Algorithmic Systems Changed Communication in a Digital Society

This thematic issue invited submissions that address the opportunities and controversies related to algorithmic influence in a digital society. A total of 11 articles address how the use of algorithms has changed communication in various contexts, and cover topics such as personalized marketing communication, self-tracking for health, political microtargeting, news recommenders, social media algorithms, and urban experiences. The articles also include a wide variety of methods such as surveys, experiments, expert interviews, computational methods, and theoretical work developing frameworks and typologies. They are all united by one central question: How have algorithms and artificial intelligence changed communication, for both senders and receivers? We believe that the collection of topics and methods provide new insights into the different perspectives regarding algorithmic-driven communication - highlighting both the opportunities and challenges - and advance the literature with new findings, frameworks, and typologies

Learning From News on Different Media Platforms : An Eye-Tracking Experiment

A large number of studies focus on the effects of news consumption on learning. However, we know surprisingly little about how the process of news consumption itself influences learning across different platforms. This experimental study (N = 149) uses eye tracking to examine to what extent news modality (i.e., whether news is presented in a printed newspaper or on a news website) affects visual attention to news, and subsequently, knowledge. Results show that differences in learning between news modalities are indeed driven by variations in attention; exposure to printed news media leads to more diverse learning through increased visual attention, while more selective visual attention to news on websites leads to learning of specific subjects only