People sharing news on social media stay better connected with information

Washington: A new study has examined that people who share news on social media sites may connect more with that information and stay connected longer than people who casually read the news.

The study conducted by Penn State University studied whether the way Facebook users shared links to news stories with their friends affected how involved they remained with the stories.

S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn State, said that there seems to be growing concern that young people may be becoming more disengaged, particularly from mainstream media sources, and be more out-of-touch.

However, sharing and discussing news content on social media sites like Facebook can actually drive greater involvement with news and information.

Oeldorf-Hirsch said that one of the main findings of this study is the engagement in news stories through social media, which requires discussion with friends on the site. Also sharing the story does not increase involvement beyond just reading it on the original news website.

Hirsch said that involvement was significantly greater when those sharing the story ask a question about it rather than stating their own opinion so one recommendation may be to encourage users not only to share news stories, but to ask questions about them, or ask their friends' opinions about them.

People who shared stories tend to stay more involved with the material for a longer period compared to participants who just read the story. The participants who shared stories felt significantly more involved with the content a week later.