News grazing in the era of information overload : how and why users utilise semi-social chat apps for news consumption

Abstract

Guided by the niche theory and literature on news grazing, this study sought to understand the phenomenon of news grazing, a trend towards consuming more concise pieces of news spontaneously. Based on in-depth interviews with 29 participants who engage in news grazing in Singapore, this study identified the motivations for news grazing and technical affordances that facilitate news grazing, in an era of information overload. This study found that users are motivated by the efficiency of fulfilling their informational and social needs. As such, we defined news grazing as the act of skimming through bite-sized news intermittently, or at regular interstices of time, in a summarised format, underpinned by the prioritisation of efficiency. Using Telegram — the most commonly used platform for news grazing among the interviewees — as an example, the news grazing behaviour is facilitated by the technical affordances of customisability, accessibility, aesthetics and simultaneity of functions. The findings advanced literature on news grazing and its related technical affordances, as well as the niche theory.