How Do University Students Receive, Read, Find, Share, and Store News? A Survey Study on Mobile News Behavior

Abstract

Mobile news research has primarily focused on mobile information needs as well as mobile news information searching behavior. In this study, we investigated an array of mobile news activities(receiving, reading, finding, sharing, and storing news) and cross-examined differential patterns and habits associated with these activities. One hundred and eleven undergraduate and graduate students in the US responded to a screener survey, and 63 subsequently participated in an online survey and reported in detail their mobile news consumption habits. Our results showed that participants’ behavioral patterns for receiving, reading, and finding news differed from their sharing and storing activities. Not only are there significantly higher frequencies in receiving, reading, and finding news, but participants rated themselves as less proficient and satisfied regarding their ability to store and share news. This study’s findings, including students’ own comments on their limited ability in news keeping as well as such a functionality being overlooked by mobile app developers, will advance our knowledge of university students’ mobile news information behavior and provide potentially meaningful design recommendations for mobile news applications.

Keywords

• mobile news information behavior
• news
• information behavior
• smartphones
• university students