Content characteristics’ effect on news sharing
| Content characteristic themes | Content charactersitics variables | OLS Regression analysis (standard error in parentheses) |
|---|---|---|
| Journalistic Style | Emotional style (ref: not emotional) | 332.665 (259.990) |
| Impersonal style (ref: personal) | 508.563 (388.578) | |
| Positive tonality (ref: no tonality) | 89.495 (373.017) | |
| Negative tonality (ref: no tonality) | 87.491 (325.036) | |
| Interpretative style (ref: descriptive style) | 1335.793*** (402.448) | |
| Critical positioning (ref: neutral) | −338.068 (496.644) | |
| Advertorial positioning (ref: neutral) | −1557.548* (751.194) | |
| No detectable positioning (ref: neutral) | −956.185* (429.770) | |
| Multimodality | Photography attached (ref: no photo) | −123.909 (280.923) |
| Video (ref: none) | 264.434 (398.651) | |
| Audio (ref: none) | −619.886 (423.797) | |
| Topic (ref: “other” incl. weather) | Politics | −622.008 (652.234) |
| Economy | −561.298 (721.542) | |
| Social issues | −371.616 (613.186) | |
| Sports | −194.602 (571.136) | |
| Accidents | −235.132 (643.155) | |
| Culture | 1353.507* (641.192) | |
| Entertainment | −320.166 (561.225) | |
| Science/tech. | 2684.851*** (781.693) | |
| Media | −949.041 (1123.215) | |
| Environment | −884.136 (887.246) | |
| Crime | 628.135 (590.565) | |
| Lifestyle/health | −711.946 (615.752) | |
| War/conflict | −182.370 (787.948) | |
| Geographical scope (ref: local) | Unable to identify geographical scope | −566.163 (760.358) |
| Regional | 252.898 (766.504) | |
| National | 562.836 (337.299) | |
| International | 119.617 (321.476) | |
| Temporality (ref: current) | Unable to identify temporality | 805.516 (549.910) |
| Past | −638.522 (396.356) | |
| Future | −444.175 (576.650) | |
| Original news story (ref: not original news) | − | −408.780 (358.913) |
| Civic engagement-index | − | 204.662 (523.231) |
| Framing | Social (ref: not applicable) | −530.646 (496.896) |
| Individual (ref: not applicable) | −71.347 (415.883) | |
| Thematic (ref: episodic) | 1033.484** (345.608) | |
| Citizen contribution (ref: no contribution) | − | 3188.259*** (848.629) |
| Gender of author (ref: woman) | Unable to identify author gender | −1032.360* (415.388) |
| Man | −751.422** (261.811) | |
| Man and woman | −687.464 (577.210) | |
| Constant | −69.494 | |
| Adjusted R2 | 0.065 | |
| R2 | 9.4% | |
| n | 1,235 | |
Characteristics of news that are not shared, shared a few times, and shared many times (non-linear patterns)
| Spreading pattern | Content variable | Duds (Non-shared) | Squibs (Shared 1–10) | Hits (Shared 100+) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rise then no change (Upper plateau) | News with focus on present | 77 | 84** | 79 |
| Rise then decline (Hump) | Audio, yes | 4 | 12*** | 4*** |
| International news | 31 | 44*** | 35** | |
| No change then rise (Hook) | Civic news index variables: | |||
| Societal actors present | 10 | 12 | 24***††† | |
| Decision making authorities present | 16 | 19 | 30***††† | |
| Policy plan present | 11 | 13 | 21***††† | |
| Actors concerned present | 6 | 7 | 16***††† | |
| Social framing (c.f. individual) | 33 | 36 | 46**††† | |
| Thematic framing (c.f. episodic) | 18 | 19 | 32***††† | |
| Personal (c.f. impersonal) | 30 | 31 | 44***††† | |
| Negative tonality (c.f. pos. or n.a.) | 16 | 19 | 38***††† | |
| Interpretive style (c.f. descriptive) | 33 | 36 | 47***††† | |
| Jour positioning critical | 5 | 6 | 20***††† | |
| National news | 27 | 24 | 43***††† | |
| Origin: other | 3 | 3 | 6*††† | |
| Citizen contribution | 1 | 1 | 3*††† | |
| Topic: Politics | 12 | 14 | 20*††† | |
| Topic: Media | 2 | 1 | 2* | |
| Topic: Environment | 1 | 2 | 4*††† | |
| Topic: Culture | 5 | 5 | 8†† | |
| Topic: Social issues | 7 | 7 | 10† | |
| News with historical focus | 8 | 9 | 11† | |
| Gender of author: Male | 36 | 40 | 47*††† | |
| Gender of author: Female | 30 | 31 | 38*††† | |
| Gender of author: Both | 2 | 2 | 7***††† | |
| No change then decline (Dip) | Jour positioning neutral | 92 | 91 | 77***††† |
| n.a. tonality (c.f. neg. or pos.) | 68 | 69 | 46***††† | |
| Local news | 31 | 27 | 18**††† | |
| Regional news | 4 | 3 | 1† | |
| News with future focus | 5 | 3 | 3† | |
| Origin: Agency | 15 | 12 | 3***††† | |
| Origin: n.a. | 11 | 8 | 1***††† | |
| Topic: business | 6 | 5 | 3† | |
| Topic: Sports | 14 | 15 | 8***††† | |
| Topic: Weather | 1 | 1 | 0* | |
| Gender of author: n.a. | 32 | 27 | 8***††† | |
| Decline than rise (Dim-ple) | Video, yes | 13 | 7*** | 17†*** |
| Decline then no change (Lower plateau) | Positive tonality (c.f. neg. or n.a.) | 17 | 13* | 16 |
| News without geographical ID | 7 | 3*** | 3††† | |
| News without time ID | 10 | 4*** | 7 | |
| Topic: Lifestyle, fitness | 12 | 8* | 8† | |
Overview of media organisations studied
| Media | Origin | Reach (weekly unique visitors, thousands) October 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Svt.se | Public service broadcaster (TV) | 1,611 |
| Sverigesradio.se | Public service broadcaster (Radio) | 879 |
| Aftonbladet.se | National tabloid | 3,261 |
| Expressen.se | National tabloid | 2,685 |
| DN.se | National broadsheet | 1,066 |
| Svd.se | National broadsheet | 1,077 |
| Tv4 | Commercial national broadcaster | n.a. |
| Metro | Free daily (mostly distributed in Stockholm but also in some other cities) | 199 |
| ABC | Regional public service broadcaster (TV) | n.a.* |
| SR Värmland | Regional public service broadcaster (Radio) | n.a.* |
| Värmlands Folkblad | Local daily | 70 |
| Nya Wermlandstidningen | Local daily | 99 |
| Mittnytt | Regional public service broad-caster (TV) | n.a.* |
| Sundsvalls Nyheter | Free weekly | n.a. |
| P4 Västmanland | Regional public service broadcaster (Radio) | n.a.* |
| Vestmanlands Läns Tidning | Local daily | 104 |
| Västerås Tidning | Free weekly | n.a. |
Variables studied and intercoder reliability test results
| Variable | Average Holsti | Fleiss Kappa |
|---|---|---|
| Photography | 0.93 | 0.87 |
| Video/audio | 0.96 | 0.78 |
| Citizen contribution | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Shares on Facebook | 0.96 | 0.83 |
| News topic | 0.85 | 0.83 |
| Societal actors* | 0.97 | 0.75 |
| Decision-making authorities* | 0.89 | 0.63 |
| Policy plan* | 0.90 | 0.62 |
| Actors concerned* | 0.91 | 0.53 |
| Framing individual-social relevance* | 0.82 | 0.69 |
| Framing episodic-thematic* | 0.92 | 0.75 |
| Personal-impersonal* | 0.95 | 0.72 |
| Emotional-unemotional* | 0.83 | 0.44 |
| Dominant tonality* | 0.82 | 0.60 |
| Journalistic style interpretive/descriptive* | 0.91 | 0.63 |
| Journalistic positioning vis-à-vis subject* | 0.90 | 0.67 |
| Timeliness* | 0.83 | 0.62 |
| Main geographical area of reporting | 0.85 | 0.71 |
| Origin of news | 0.89 | 0.78 |
| Gender of author | 0.98 | 0.97 |
| Average score | 0.90 | 0.72 |
Odds of being a news dud
| Content characteristics themes | Content characteristics variables | Odds ratios | Lower CI | Upper CI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Media type (ref: local PBS) | Tabloid | .115*** | .079 | .168 |
| National broadcaster | 1.085 | .691 | 1.706 | |
| Urban broadsheet | .573** | .397 | .829 | |
| Provincial daily | .531** | .369 | .765 | |
| Emotionality | Emotional style (ref: not emotional) | .705** | .577 | .862 |
| Impersonal style (ref: personal) | .907 | .672 | 1.224 | |
| Negative tonality (ref: not applicable) | .970 | .748 | 1.257 | |
| Positive tonality (ref: not applicable) | 1.363*** | 1.027 | 1.809 | |
| Interpretative style (ref: descriptive style) | 1.026 | .746 | 1.411 | |
| No detectable positioning (ref: neutral) | .844 | .610 | 1.167 | |
| Critical positioning (ref: neutral) | .818 | .534 | 1.253 | |
| Advertorial positioning (ref: neutral) | .791 | .449 | 1.393 | |
| Multimodality | Photography attached (ref: no photo) | .608*** | .496 | .744 |
| Audio/visual elements (ref: no audio/visuals) | .600*** | .459 | .785 | |
| News topic (ref: “other” incl. weather) | Politics | .901 | .560 | 1.450 |
| Economy | .987 | .595 | 1.636 | |
| Social issues | .594* | .374 | .942 | |
| Sports | 1.353 | .891 | 2.057 | |
| Accidents | 1.041 | .643 | 1.685 | |
| Culture | .555* | .341 | .902 | |
| Entertainment | 1.244 | .810 | 1.910 | |
| Science/tech. | .848 | .478 | 1.505 | |
| Media | 1.226 | .554 | 2.714 | |
| Environment | .575 | .283 | 1.169 | |
| Crime | .732 | .474 | 1.130 | |
| Lifestyle/health | 1.557* | 1.000 | 2.425 | |
| War/conflict | .769 | .417 | 1.416 | |
| Geographical scope (ref: local) | Unable to identify geographical scope | 2.083** | 1.269 | 3.419 |
| Regional | 1.197 | .719 | 1.995 | |
| National | 1.148 | .872 | 1.511 | |
| International | .672 | 1.062 | .805 | |
| Temporality (ref: current) | Unable to identify temporality | 1.252 | .862 | 1.820 |
| Past | 1.251 | .917 | 1.707 | |
| Future | 1.069 | .713 | 1.603 | |
| Framing | Individual (ref: not applicable) | .689* | .517 | .919 |
| Social (ref: not applicable) | .487*** | .343 | .691 | |
| Thematic (ref: episodic) | .969 | .745 | 1.260 | |
| Citizen contribution (ref: no contribution) | − | .341 | .683 | .312 |
| Gender of author (ref: woman) | Unable to identify author gender | .899 | .658 | 1.229 |
| Man | .809* | .660 | .990 | |
| Man and woman | .510* | .297 | .877 | |
| Civic engagement-index | − | .655* | .434 | .989 |
| Original news story (ref: not original news) | − | .680** | .518 | .892 |
| Constant | 2.671 | |||
| Nagelkerke R2 | 25.5% | |||
| Hosmer Lemeshow | .109 | |||
| n | 2,871 | |||
Characteristics of news that are not shared, shared a few times, and shared many times (linear patterns)
| Content variable | Duds (non-shared) | Squibs (Shared 1–10) | Hits (Shared 10+) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous rise (Rise) | Photography, yes | 66 | 73** | 80†††* |
| Emotional (c.f. Unemotional) | 38 | 44* | 70***††† | |
| Origin: own journo | 67 | 73* | 86***††† | |
| No change (Flatline) – 9 cases | Jour positioning advertorial | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Origin: Mix of jour+agency | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Origin: partner | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Topic: Accidents/disaster | 6 | 5 | 5 | |
| Topic: Crime | 11 | 12 | 9 | |
| Topic: war/conflict | 3 | 5 | 3 | |
| Topic: Others | 7 | 5 | 6 | |
| Topic: Science/tech | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
| Topic: Entertainment | 10 | 12 | 10 | |
| Continuous decline (Fall) | None | |||
Comparison of significant values in different regressions
| Content characteristics themes | Content characteristics variables | Binary logistic regression: Odds of being a dud | Linear regression |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journalistic style | Emotional style (ref: not emotional) | − | n.a. |
| Impersonal style (ref: personal) | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Negative tonality (ref: not applicable) | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Positive tonality (ref: not applicable) | + | n.a. | |
| Interpretative style (ref: descriptive style) | n.a. | + | |
| No detectable positioning (ref: neutral) | n.a. | − | |
| Critical positioning (ref: neutral) | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Advertorial positioning (ref: neutral) | n.a. | − | |
| Multimodality | Photography attached (ref: no photo) | − | n.a. |
| Audio/visual elements (ref: no audio/visuals) | − | n.a. | |
| News topic (ref: “other” incl. weather) | Politics | n.a. | n.a. |
| Economy | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Social issues | − | n.a. | |
| Sports | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Accidents | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Culture | − | + | |
| Entertainment | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Science/tech. | n.a. | + | |
| Media | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Environment | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Crime | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Lifestyle/health | + | n.a. | |
| War/conflict | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Geographical scope (ref: local) | Unable to identify geographical scope | + | n.a. |
| Regional | n.a. | n.a. | |
| National | n.a. | n.a. | |
| International | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Temporality (ref: current) | Unable to identify temporality | n.a. | n.a. |
| Past | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Future | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Framing | Individual (ref: not applicable) | − | n.a. |
| Social (ref: not applicable) | − | n.a. | |
| Thematic (ref: episodic) | n.a. | + | |
| Citizen contribution (ref: no contribution) | − | n.a. | + |
| Gender of author (ref: woman) | Unable to identify author gender | n.a. | − |
| Man | − | − | |
| Man and woman | − | n.a. | |
| Civic engagement-index | − | − | n.a. |
| Original news story (ref: not original news) | − | − | n.a. |