The Impact of News Factors and Position on Selection Decisions on a News Aggregator Website

• In Event: Social Influences in News Making

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the impact of news factors and position on users’ decisions to click on a news result on the news aggregator website Google News. Considering the lexicographic heuristics, we assume that news factors and the position are attributes that influence click decisions, whereby position is the preferred attribute in a habitualized situation context. The online selection behavior of 47 users on Google News was recorded via eye tracking. The users generated 90 search results on Google News that were analyzed by conducting a content analysis. After the eye tracking session, users responded to open and closed questions about the reasons for their decisions. The results show that it seems to be beneficial for the users to look for news factors, as well as the position of search results, on Google News.

Authors

• Sabrina Heike Kessler, University of Zurich; IPMZ – Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research

• Ines Engelmann, FSU - U of Jena