Incidental news exposure occurs as individuals encounter news content while engaging in non-news-related activities on social platforms. Applying the Political Incidental News Exposure (PINE) model, this study uses a survey of US voters (N = 781) and reveals that obligation to stay informed and intrinsic need for orientation are associated with people’s levels of engagement to news encounter by accident on short-form video platforms. The levels of engagement are associated with people’s political engagement and information seeking.
De ZúñigaHGWeeksBEArdèvol-AbreuA (2017) Effects of the News-Finds-Me perception in communication: social media use implications for news seeking and learning about politics. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication22(3): 105–123.
6.
DeciELRyanRM (2000) The “What” and “Why” of goal pursuits: human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry11(4): 227–268.
7.
DouglasBDEwellPJBrauerM (2023) Data quality in online human-subjects research: comparisons between MTurk, Prolific, CloudResearch, Qualtrics, and SONA. PLoS One18(3): e0279720.
8.
FeezellJTOrtizB (2019) ‘I saw it on Facebook’: an experimental analysis of political learning through social media.Information, Communication & Society24(9): 1283–1302.
9.
Gil de ZúñigaHGBorahPGoyanesM (2021) How do people learn about politics when inadvertently exposed to news? Incidental news paradoxical direct and indirect effects on political knowledge. Computers in Human Behavior121: 106803.
10.
GoyanesMDemeterM (2020) Beyond positive or negative: understanding the phenomenology, typologies and impact of incidental news exposure on citizens’ daily lives. New Media & Society24(3): 760–777.
11.
GriffinRJYangZTer HuurneEF, et al. (2008) After the flood: anger, attribution, and the seeking of information. Science Communication29(3): 285–315.
12.
HeissRMatthesJ (2019) Does incidental exposure on social media equalize or reinforce participatory gaps? Evidence from a panel study. New Media & Society21(11–12): 2463–2482.
13.
JaccardJJacobyJ (2020) Theory Construction and Model-Building Skills: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists. 2nd edition. New York: The Guilford Press.
14.
KimYChenHTGil de ZúñigaH (2013) Stumbling upon news on the Internet: effects of incidental news exposure and relative entertainment use on political engagement. Computers in Human Behavior29(6): 2607–2614.
15.
KnollJMatthesJHeissR (2020) The social media political participation model: a goal systems theory perspective. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies26(1): 135–156.
16.
KovachBRosenstielT (2014) The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.
17.
KümpelAS (2021) Social media information environments and their implications for the uses and effects of news: the PINGS framework. Communication Theory32: 223–242.
18.
LazarusRSSmithCA (1988) Knowledge and appraisal in the cognition—emotion relationship. Cognition & Emotion2(4): 281–300.
19.
MarcinkowskiFDošenovićP (2020) From incidental exposure to intentional avoidance: psychological reactance to political communication during the 2017 German national election campaign. New Media & Society23(3): 457–478.
20.
MartinJD (2020) Diagnosing “newsjunkies”: fielding and validating a measure of intrinsic need for orientation in three countries. International Communication Research Journal55(2): 2–17.
21.
MartinJSharmaK (2022) Are newsjunkies more likely to vote? Intrinsic need for orientation and voter registration, intention to vote, and voter conscientiousness. Political Psychology44(1): 197–214.
22.
MartinJSharmaK (2023) What do newsjunkies consume and what do they know? Two studies on intrinsic need for orientation, news diets, and political knowledge. International Journal of Public Opinion Research35(1): 1–13. DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edad002.
23.
MatthesJNanzAStubenvollM, et al. (2020) Processing news on social media. The political incidental news exposure model (PINE). Journalism21(8): 1031–1048.
24.
McCombsMPoindexterP (1983) The duty to keep informed: news exposure and civic obligation. Journal of Communication33(2): 88–96.
25.
McCombsMWeaverDH (1973) Voters' need for orientation and use of mass communication. In: Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association. Montreal, Canada, 25–28 April 1973.
26.
NanzAMatthesJ (2022a) Democratic consequences of incidental exposure to political information: a meta-analysis. Journal of Communication72(3): 345–373.
27.
NanzAMatthesJ (2022b) Seeing political information online incidentally. Effects of first- and second-level incidental exposure on democratic outcomes. Computers in Human Behavior133: 107285.
28.
NanzAHeissRMatthesJ (2020) Antecedents of intentional and incidental exposure modes on social media and consequences for political participation: a panel study. Acta Politica57(2): 235–253.
29.
ParkCSKayeBK (2020) What’s this? Incidental exposure to news on social media, News-Finds-Me perception, news efficacy, and news consumption. Mass Communication and Society23(2): 157–180.
30.
PeerEBrandimarteLSamatS, et al. (2017) Beyond the Turk: alternative platforms for crowdsourcing behavioral research. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology70: 153–163.
31.
PeerERothschildDGordonA, et al. (2021) Data quality of platforms and panels for online behavioral research. Behavior Research Methods54(4): 1643–1662.
PoindexterPMMcCombsM (2001) Revisiting the civic duty to keep informed in the new media environment. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly78(1): 113–126.
34.
RyanRMDeciEL (2020) Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology61: 101860.
35.
SchäferS (2023) Incidental news exposure in a digital media environment: a scoping review of recent research. Annals of the International Communication Association47: 242–260.
36.
SchererKR (2001) Appraisal considered as a process of multilevel sequential checking. In: SchererKRSchorrAJohnstoneT (eds) Appraisal Processes in Emotion: Theory, Methods, Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 92–120.
37.
StroudNJPeacockCCurryAL (2020) The Effects of Mobile Push Notifications on News Consumption and Learning. Milton Park: Routledge eBooks, 32–48.
38.
TewksburyDWeaverAJMaddexBD (2001) Accidentally informed: incidental news exposure on the world wide web. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly78(3): 533–554.
39.
ValerianiAVaccariC (2016) Accidental exposure to politics on social media as online participation equalizer in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. New Media & Society18(9): 1857–1874.
40.
VargoCJHoppT (2019) Attention to issues and facts: assessing the role of need for orientation as a predictor of political news sharing on Facebook. The Agenda Setting Journal3(2): 186–207.
41.
WuYWangXHongS, et al. (2021) The relationship between social short-form videos and youth’s well-being: it depends on usage types and content categories. Psychology of Popular Media10(4): 467–477.
42.
YamamotoMMoreyAC (2019) Incidental news exposure on social media: a campaign communication mediation approach. Social Media + Society5(2): 2056305119843619.
