Jieun Shin, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Media Production, Management, and Technology assistant professor, is the author of “Social Media Metrics and News Quality,” a chapter in the book News Quality in the Digital Age to be published on March 8.

The book features a diverse, international array of contributors exploring news quality in the online age and the relationships between news organizations and influential social platforms.

In her chapter, Shin discusses the relationship between the quality of news and social media metrics.

According to Shin, “Audience engagement on social media in the form of followers, shares, and likes can provide news media outlets with valuable resources which can be tangible and intangible. However, the mechanisms that drive social media engagement are often far from democratic considerations, and subject to other factors. These include algorithmic promotions, partisan motivations of users, and the degree of interest of the news content, which have little bearing on news quality from a normative journalistic view.”

She adds, “The ‘reward system’ set up by social media can incentivize the production of low-quality news and allow clickbait and sensational news to prevail over high-quality news.”

Posted: January 20, 2023
Category: College News
Tagged as: Jieun Shin, Social Media