Table 1
Descriptions of Schrøder's worthwhileness categories
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Time spent | A medium must be worth the time spent, and the news media that are experienced as more important are more worthwhile; others are used temporarily at a convenient time (e.g., mobile moments). |
| Public connection | This helps maintain relations to one's networks and the wider society. Schrøder divides public connection into “democratic worthwhileness” (content that caters to one's identity) and “everyday worthwhileness” (content that links one with their personal networks). |
| Normative pressures | Usage or non-usage of a medium depends on how significant others find the medium. |
| Participatory potential | Participation through (inter)activity, sharing, liking, and creating content can be meaningful for some people. |
| Price | The news medium must be affordable and worth the price. |
| Technological appeal | The technological features and technical quality potential of the device or medium. |
| Situational fit | The suitability of the time and place for using the medium. |
[i] Comments: The worthwhileness categories are explained and described based on Schrøder's (2015) outline.
Table 2
YouTubers’ techniques used in the focus group videos
| Video | Genre, format, and affordances | Audio/visual codes | Textual and linguistic expressions |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEAL or NO DEAL: Brits and EU divorcing the marriage (explains Brexit from the aspect of possible personal impact to the young viewer) Length: 2′33′ | Genre: news + original performance Format: sit-down Affordances: time spent, democratic and everyday worthwhileness, technological appeal, news-ness | Sound effects, background music Numerous memes and pictures, and the written text emphasises the news facts Editing: jump-cuts to accelerate the pace of presentation, no post-production effects High technical quality | Explaining to the camera Listing of news-related facts Narrative elements: action, resolution, coda Uses slang, includes few vulgar expressions Fast speech rate |
| THE FUTURE IS NOW: robots writing business news (about using robots in journalism; similar to conventional infotainment news interview) Length: 6′44″ | Genre: original performance + news Format: sketch + collab Affordances: time spent, technological appeal, news-ness | Modest sound effects, ambient background music Video footage from newscasts Simultaneous unrelated action in the background Editing: similar to journalistic feature news, no post-production effects Remarkably low technical quality | News interview Narrative elements: abstract, orientation, resolution, coda Everyday word use, similar to formal news texts Speech rate similar to ordinary conversation |
| ONLY IN 5 MINUTES: stock market explained in kitchen (rises and falls of investing in stock market explained using cooking metaphors) Length: 4′49″ | Genre: original performance + how-to Format: sit-down Affordances: everyday worthwhileness | Modest sound effects, background music Few gifs, written punch lines, bloopers Editing: few jumpcuts to emphasise important facts Normal technical quality with minor flaws in sound and lighting | Explaining to the camera Listed facts presented through acting Narrative elements: abstract, resolution, coda Everyday language Slow speech rate |
| BE AWARE: how you can prevent the financial crisis from happening? (explaining principles of financial behaviour in an acted sketch) Length: 2′57″ | Genre: news + original performance Format: sketch + sit-down Affordances: time spent, democratic and everyday worthwhileness, technological appeal | Sound effects to emphasise the facts or jokes, ambient background music Gifs, short video additions, written punch lines Editing: a number of jump cuts to emphasise important facts High technical quality | Explaining to the camera using short sentences, jokes, punch lines Narrative elements: action, resolution, coda Everyday language Fast speech rate |
[i] Comments: All ten videos were created and published weekly on Äripäev's news portal (www.aripaev.ee/t/richify) and YouTube channel (see Äripäev, 2019a; 2019b; 2019c; 2019d) from January to March 2019. The videos used in this study were all published in January. Focus group interviews were conducted from April to June 2019. The headlines were originally in Estonian and were translated for this article.