"Playing" With Your News: A Focus Group Study on "News Your Own Adventure"
Abstract
This study explores how news consumers interact with self-directed news content on a tablet device. I sought to discover how visual design, interactivity and control impact the way people watch news. I conducted a focus group study of 35 student participants' -- one group of seven, two groups of five, and three groups of six -- from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Participants were given an opportunity to explore stories within "News Your Own Adventure," a Beta version of an iPad app from Newsy. I found the ability to control and self-direct their viewing of a news product was highly valued in the news consumption experience and led to more engagement. This research is a first look at how consumers like to engage and interact with self-directed content. Future producers and researchers could benefit from this by applying these findings to future app development.
Degree
M.A.
Thesis Department
Rights
OpenAccess.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.