Abstract

The use of WhatsApp in everyday life, but also in relation with practices such as receiving, sharing and commenting on news is growing. However, due to its close or private nature, users' engagement with news is less obvious or harder to grasp on WhatsApp than on other social platforms. Drawing on practice theory, this research aims to address how WhatsApp users engage with news content, to identify if they are subject to incidental exposure, and how technological affordances, as well as individual and in-group social dynamics, shape these issues. The results of 6 focus groups highlight that on WhatsApp news is experienced by each user in an individual fashion, and news is used decontextualized from media brands. In fact, the sender seems to be the most influential element who determines how users engage with and trust media content. Furthermore, depending on the level of trust that the sender possesses, news is more likely to be endorsed or not. Finally, incidental exposure to ideologically diverse news content tends to happen in groups, particularly large groups, not in one-on-one chats.

摘要

WhatsApp 在日常生活中的使用以及与接收、分享和评论新闻等实践相关的应用正在增长。然而，由于其私密性或私密性，用户对新闻的参与在 WhatsApp 上不如在其他社交平台上那么明显或更难掌握。借鉴实践理论，这项研究旨在解决 WhatsApp 用户如何与新闻内容互动，确定他们是否会偶然暴露，以及技术可供性以及个人和群体内的社会动态如何影响这些问题。6 个焦点小组的结果强调，在 WhatsApp 上，每个用户都以个人方式体验新闻，新闻的使用与媒体品牌脱节。事实上，发件人似乎是决定用户如何参与和信任媒体内容的最有影响力的因素。此外，根据发件人拥有的信任程度，新闻更有可能被认可或不被认可。最后，偶然接触意识形态不同的新闻内容往往发生在群体中，尤其是大型群体中，而不是一对一的聊天中。