Why German Audiences Don't Use Participatory Features

Well, after all that, the final ECREA 2014 session starts with Nele Heise, whose project examined conceptions of the audience at German news media. There are increasing forms of audience participation at German news sites, but only a minority of users regularly engage with such media. Do such features represent an interactive illusion?

The project used online surveys, interviews with journalists and audience members, and analyses of journalistic content. It found notable differences in the percentage of non-users across the different formats: the print services saw more engagement. This may also be due to their own outreach activities to users, as well as the visibility of participatory features on their sites.

Many users stated that they were put off by the need for registration (especially where it required providing personal information), even though some participatory features didn't even require registration. Others said that they didn't have enough time to participate, or didn't find participation fun, that they didn't want to engage with strangers or didn't find the discussion standards high enough. For TV sites, some users also thought that this was not the right medium for participation.

Technical problems, lack of responses from journalists, and preferences for other participative media were not featured as key barriers. Education, age, and gender did emerge as possible distinctions, however. Some users also stated that they were satisfied with passive use, enjoyed mere lurking, felt that their feedback was not going to be taken seriously, or that the features lacked transparency.

The costs of participation (personal data, time) clearly emerged as key barriers for some users, then – especially for users who already didn't enjoy the idea of participation. Passive media usage (lurking) thus emerged as a meaningful activity. Negative experience also inhibit participation. Open questions related to the differences between different forms of new media, and a shift in perspectives needs to put the motives and expectations of audiences in a more central position.