READING NEWS ON SMARTPHONES: HOW DO MOOD, MODALITY INTERACTIVITY, AND NEWS STORY LENGTH INFLUENCE USER ENGAGEMENT?

Open Access
- Author:
- Wang, Ruoxu
- Graduate Program:
- Mass Communications
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 03, 2017
- Committee Members:
- Michel M. Haigh, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Fuyuan Shen, Committee Member
Mary Beth Oliver, Committee Member
James Dillard, Outside Member
Michel M. Haigh, Committee Chair/Co-Chair - Keywords:
- smartphone news reading
mood
modality interactivity
news story length
user engagment
persuasion
user experience
human computer interaction - Abstract:
- Reading news on smartphones has become a primary activity among smartphone users. A 2 (Mood: Positive vs. Negative) x 2 (Modality Interactivity: Scrolling vs. Swiping) x 2 (Length: Long form vs. Short Form) x 2 (Topic: Zika vs. West Nile) between subject experiment (N = 332) was conducted to examine the effects of mood, modality interactivity, news story length, and topic on user engagement under the context of smartphone news reading. Results showed mood, modality interactivity, or news story length had no direct impact on user engagement. However, there was a combinatory effect of mood, length, and topic on dimensions of user engagement. When reading stories about Zika, happy readers showed more curiosity toward the long form story than the short form story. Sad readers showed equal curiosity toward the long form Zika story and the short form Zika story. Participants in the sad mood condition reading stories about the West Nile virus showed more curiosity toward the long form news story compared with the happy readers. Participants in the happy mood condition showed more curiosity toward the short form news story compared with the sad readers. A significant three-way interaction among mood, length, and topic on credibility was also discovered. The long form Zika story was generally perceived as more credible than the short form news story regardless of the mood condition. Sad readers perceived the short form story as more credible than the long form story about West Nile. Happy readers perceived the short form West Nile story as equally credible as the long form story.