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It Is Not All Fun and Games: Breaking News Consumption on Snapchat

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It Is Not All Fun and Games: Breaking News Consumption on Snapchat It is Not All Fun and Games: Breaking News Consumption on Snapchat Abstract Snapchat became a place where news can be created, curated, and consumed. Snapchat is a camera and ephemeral messaging Since 54% of young adults aged 18-29 get their application popular among young adults. Due to its news digitally via websites or applications [23], it is self-destructing content and playful features, Snapchat important to understand how users consume and is often associated with more trivial uses. However, perceive news on Snapchat. In this work, we explore the platform has added functionality to support the consumption of breaking news through the lens of consumption of news. To understand how users Network Gatekeeping Theory (NGT) [1,35]. perceive and interact with news content on Snapchat, Gatekeeping refers to the control in information we conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 users systems, traditionally described as an information of the platform, focusing on their use of Snapchat selection process conducted by a gatekeeper on the during breaking news events, including the 2016/2017 gated (i.e. the audience). NGT describes a US presidential election and inauguration. Through bidirectional relationship between the gatekeeper and the lens of Network Gatekeeping, our research the gated in which both parties can create information explains how users consume breaking news content on and shape its flow [35]. As a conceptual model, NGT Snapchat. We unpack users’ ambiguous perceptions of provides a lens through which to view social media in news reliability on Snapchat, and demonstrate how terms of information dissemination. this contrasts with traditional news consumption. Our Our work was conducted in the shadow of the 2016 research also describes how users’ mental models of US Presidential Election, a time of political tension how Snapchat works—specifically their theories about and accusations of “fake news” that were directed at how the platform curates news content—shape their various media, including “mainstream” media [31,37]. judgments of reliability, media bias and authenticity. Our research questions concern how the features and affordances of Snapchat facilitate news consumption, and whether the platform’s users consider it reliable. 1. Introduction Snapchat’s popularity, coupled with new trends regarding news consumption that are perhaps leading Snapchat is a popular camera and messaging to a population less well-informed (and less trusting), application. As of December 2016, it had 153 million provide motivation for studying how Snapchat (and daily active users [9]. With playful affordances similar platforms) fit into this media environment. including face filters and ephemerality, Snapchat has To explore these questions, we conducted semi- become a lightweight platform that is particularly structured interviews with individuals that used prevalent among young adults. Among Snapchat Snapchat during breaking news events. We find that users, those aged 25 and under spend on average 30 Snapchat is used for the consumption of news, and minutes per day on the platform [9]. reveal interesting perceptions of the reliability of news Distinctive features of Snapchat include filters and found on the platform. stickers, and the temporary nature of content is often associated with playful uses [36], e.g. sharing selfies 2. Background [27], mundane experiences [2], and sports fandom [4]. Snapchat introduced other affordances including: Personal (My) Stories (in 2013)—semi-public Since its release in 2011, Snapchat has provided personal collections of snaps that users have posted in users with private messaging capabilities with their the past 24 hours; Live Stories (in 2014)—collections Snapchat friends. Friendships on Snapchat are of snaps relating to an event that are curated by reciprocal and when adding someone as a friend the Snapchat; and Discover Stories (in 2015)—stories other person must accept, leading to a network of compiled by mainstream media and creative closer ties. Photo or video messages—snaps—can be organizations. With the addition of these affordances, privately sent to selected Snapchat friends. Once opened by the receiver, the snap is visible for just a few seconds, predetermined by the sender, before it television), breaking news has been described as disappears. Since 2013, receivers can view the content event-driven and based upon unpredictable or a second time before it is deleted. More recently, unexpected events [18]. However, the modern-day, Snapchat began to introduce Stories, described below. 24-hour news cycle has led to arguments that breaking news has become more about branding—i.e. breaking 2.1. Snapchat Stories news is simply routine news reframed as ‘breaking’— resulting in fewer independent news stories being My Stories—User-Produced and Published: broadcast and less well-informed audiences [17]. Collections of snaps that a user has posted in the past With the rise of the internet and smartphone usage, 24 hours—a personal narrative of a person’s day. A it was reported in 2016 that 72% of adults in the US user’s My Story is semi-public, shared only with use mobile devices to access news, and 18% often use friends. They are also more persistent—Snaps added social media to access news [23]. Research into to a user’s My Story can be viewed multiple times and breaking news on social media has looked at remain visible for 24 hours, after which they are Wikipedia [15] and Facebook [14,26], but often deleted. Users have control over what appears in their focuses on Twitter due to the public availability of My Story. digital trace data [e.g. 4,11,13]. Live Stories—Crowd-Sourced Platform- Curated Content: Snapchat Live Stories (also called 2.3. Social Media: Disruption of Traditional Our Story) are collections of snaps that are created and Models of News Production and Consumption uploaded by users and curated by Snapchat in what has been termed a “real-time crowd sourced documentary” Social media changed how news is produced and [19]. Curation of the Live Stories is done by a team of consumed during breaking news events [10,11,30]. At employees at Snapchat who evaluate user-submitted the dawn of the social media era, Gillmor explained content and select it for inclusion in the story. As part that new technologies for sharing information online of this process, the team verifies facts and add were enabling citizens to report for themselves from additional information to provide context [3]. Around the scene of events—i.e. performing as citizen 50-60 snaps make it into each Live Story, but curators journalists [10]. Following this observation, the select from up to 20,000 submitted snaps [19]. The widespread adoption of social media in the subsequent Live Stories are not ephemeral in the same way as the decade has drastically altered the model of “news”— My Story and direct snaps are—the Snapchat privacy including who produces it, how it is distributed, who policy makes it clear that content submitted to any of gets paid for it, and how and where people consume it. their inherently public features such as Live Stories Some have argued that these changes have contributed may be retained as long as necessary [33]. Unlike to a “crisis in journalism” [11,30], where traditional other social media platforms, Live Stories are media outlets are struggling to adapt their practices hyperlocal—Snapchat users must be within the and business models to new conditions. This geographical region of an event to contribute content “democratization” of news production [10] has to its Live Story. allowed new and different groups of people to have Discover Stories—Media-Curated and their voices heard, such as on Snapchat—which is Published Content: Collections of snaps compiled by new, offers unique affordances, and is introducing editorial teams, including those representing features that allow for news to be created and mainstream media organizations such as the consumed in interaction with its distributed users. Washington Post, CNN, and ESPN. Discover Stories are available for 24 hours and can be viewed multiple 2.3. Distinctiveness of Snapchat as a Platform times before they are removed—“because what’s news today is history tomorrow” [32]. Snap Inc has Snapchat differs from other social media platforms recently expanded its Discover channel to feature live (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) in several key ways. First, hand-curated daily news shows in the platform’s there is no tagging, such as the hashtag system used by vertical format (referring to the aspect ratio)—e.g. Twitter, so snaps are not grouped by theme or by MSNBC’s Stay Tuned [24], and CNN’s The Update author—i.e. there is no hyperlinked tag that connects [8]. users with related content. Second, there is no informal 2.2. Social Media Use During Breaking News recommendation system (i.e. a “like” on Facebook or Events “favorite” on Twitter). Although Snapchat is aware that content has been viewed, users are not afforded Breaking news refers to developing and non- the ability to acknowledge that they ‘like’ something routine events. On more traditional media (e.g. and content is not disseminated to others who are than 25). A majority of participants used Snapchat on associated with the ‘liker’ or the content. Third, there a daily basis (n=17), one weekly and one monthly. is no native way to share content (i.e. a Facebook share These demographics are consistent with a report by or Twitter retweet)—so a user is not able to forward Snap that shows, on average, Snapchat users aged <25 content to a friend with the click of a button. This spend 30 minutes on the platform every day [9]. leads to interesting and understudied questions about news consumption in a markedly different social In the exploratory round (P1-P14), our interview environment. protocol was designed to elicit participants’ use of Snapchat at various times and in a variety of situations.
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