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Digitaljournalism: Twitter Use of Local #DIGITALJOURNALISM: TWITTER USE OF LOCAL NEWSPAPERS AND TELEVISON NEWS STATIONS A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Communication Kelly Marie Meyer May, 2015 #DIGITALJOURNALISM: TWITTER USE OF LOCAL NEWSPAPERS AND TELEVISON NEWS STATIONS Kelly Marie Meyer Thesis Approved: Accepted: _______________________________ _______________________________ Advisor Dean of the College Dr. Tang Tang Dr. Chand Midha _______________________________ _______________________________ Faculty Reader Interim Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Heather Walter Dr. Rex Ramsier _______________________________ _______________________________ Faculty Reader Date Dr. Val Pipps _______________________________ School Director Dr. Therese Lueck ii ABSTRACT This study examined how local television news stations and local newspapers in the United States use Twitter. Specifically, this study focused on tweet structure, news content, tweet topic, audience engagement, and promotion activity within small, medium, and large news markets. A content analysis of 4,507 tweets from 60 news organizations revealed that the size of media market, time of day, and tweet structures were main differences in Twitter activity of local television news stations and local newspapers. Overall, this study suggests for local news organizations to continue to tweet frequently and incorporate tweet structures in order to build stronger audience engagement. Keywords: Television News, Newspapers, Twitter, Social Media iii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS It would not have been possible to write this thesis without the help and support of the people around me. I would first like to thank my husband, Adam, for his love, encouragement and patience. I would also like to thank my family, especially my parents, Tom and Donna, for their guidance and inspiration. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Tang Tang, for her continuous support of my study. Her motivation and enthusiasm helped me in my time of research and writing. I could not imagine having a better advisor with such guidance and immense knowledge to mentor my studies. I would also like to thank the rest of my thesis committee, Dr. Heather Walter and Dr. Val Pipps for their encouragement, as well as their time and insightful comments in helping me complete my thesis. I would like to acknowledge the support of my fellow graduate students, Fiona and Leyna. I appreciate their time and effort in helping code the data for this study. Lastly, I would like to thank the faculty and staff in the School of Communication that were always willing to help in any capacity. I am proud to say I am a graduate of The University of Akron because of your commitment and education. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 5 Cross Media Promotion ..................................................................................... 5 News Industry .................................................................................................... 8 Twitter Use ...................................................................................................... 11 Twitter and News ............................................................................................ 15 III. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 23 Sample and Unit of Analysis ........................................................................... 23 Coding ............................................................................................................. 24 IV. RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 27 V. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 35 Limitations and Future Studies ........................................................................ 41 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 44 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................... 51 APPENDIX A. NIELSEN LOCAL TELEVISION MARKETS .................... 52 APPENDIX B. MEDIA MARKETS AND NEWS ORGANIZATIONS ....... 57 APPENDIX C. NEWS ORGANIZATION TWEETS CODING SHEET ...... 58 v APPENDIX D. NEWS ORGANIZATION TWEETS CODING BOOK ....... 60 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Differences in Twitter Strategy between Local TV Stations and Newspapers ..... 32 2 Differences in Twitter Use between Local TV Stations and Newspapers ............ 33 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Tuning in to the evening news is no longer necessary with the use of smartphones and tablets. News consumers can now stay informed through news alerts and email notifications. The revolution of digital journalism has caused traditional news platforms, such as newspapers and broadcast television to be on the decline for years (Chyi, 2009). News organizations have been forced to rethink the way news is distributed in an increasingly competitive digital environment (Holton & Lewis, 2011). As a result, newspapers and television news programs have joined social media for news consumers to have access to content on the go. If searching for news was the most important development of the last decade, sharing news may be among the most important aspects of the next (Olmstead, Mitchell, & Rosenstiel, 2011). As the news industry continues to change, online news consumption increases. The percentage of Americans that have seen news or news headlines on a social networking site has doubled from 9 to 19 percent since 2010 (Pew Research, 2012). Among adults younger than 30 years old, 33 percent reported to have seen news the previous day on a social networking site, 34 percent reported to have seen any television news, and 13 percent reported to have read a newspaper in either digital or print form (Pew Research, 2012). 1 More individuals are using social networking tools, Facebook and Twitter, as news resources (Boyle & Zuegner, 2012). Specifically, 23 percent of social network users reported they received their news from a news organization through their social network channels. Nearly a third of Internet users receive their news from friends, journalists, or news organizations they follow through social networks (Purcell et al., 2010). In a more recent study, news consumers on social networking sites were more likely than the general public to use mobile devices for news; 54 percent of those news consumers were Twitter users (Holcomb, Gottfried, & Mitchell, 2013). With 284 million active users and 500 million Tweets sent everyday (Twitter.com), Twitter has proven to be an established platform in the digital landscape of journalism (Hermida, 2013). The social media’s growing presence is changing how people and news organizations exchange and consume information (Small, 2011). According to Palser (2009), Twitter users are more likely to read a newspaper on a smartphone or website than non-Twittering Internet users. Twitter users are also more likely to have wireless connections and watch news video online and use social networks such as Facebook. Twitter is a way to reach a younger audience who is interested in certain kinds of news but do not regularly read the newspaper or news online (Palser, 2009). With the increase of online news consumption related to Twitter, there is clearly a need for more cross media promotion studies to aid news networks and organizations to understand how to effectively use Twitter and distribute news content through social media. This kind of perspective has become a defining feature of contemporary media because it is essential to the marketing and diffusion of new media forms (Hardy, 2010). 2 Several scholars have looked at the impact of Twitter in journalism (Armstrong & Gao, 2011; Greer & Ferguson, 2011; Bruns & Burgess, 2012; Hermida, Fletcher, Korell, & Logan, 2012) and found that news organizations are utilizing the platform to provide news content to online audiences. However, there is very little research on how news organizations take advantage of Twitter to interact with their followers. Since local news is a dominant portion of newspapers and television news, researchers need to explore the relationship of local news organizations and audience engagement (Greer & Ferguson, 2011). Therefore, it is important to study how local news media use Twitter to disseminate news content, in order to create a stronger connection with their online audience. Very few studies have compared the differences between Twitter use of local television news programs and local newspapers. Local newspapers may publish daily, weekly, or bi-weekly, in which information is time sensitive. On the other hand, local television airs multiple newscasts daily with updated information. Also, newspapers are written with a more in-depth approach, but television provides a visual aspect of the news. Although, the two mediums have different ways of expressing information to their audiences, Twitter is a common platform for local news media
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