News Internalizing and Externalizing: The Dimensions of News Sharing on Online Social Networking Sites

Abstract

The present study sheds light on the changing patterns of news experiences by defining it as news sharing. The study attempted to explicate the concept of news sharing by identifying the subdimensions of it in the context of online social networking sites (SNSs). Findings showed that news sharing is comprised of two distinctive behaviors: news internalizing (by those who read news) and externalizing (by those who offer news to others). Furthermore, news internalizing and externalizing have two subdimensions, respectively: browsing and personalizing for internalizing, and recontextualizing and endorsing for externalizing. Data were collected through a national survey of adults in the United States. © 2015 Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication.