Why do users limit the extent to which their engagement w/news content can be seen by others? @oriten.bsky.social (2025) shows 4 key drivers: protection, pointlessness, personality & particularity. How? Through reducing volume of expression, using private spaces & preferring closed-ended reactions 🧪

Thanks for sharing, @overbye.bsky.social!

Under-the-radar engagement: how and why news users limit their public expression Abstract. Beyond digital news consumption, users may express themselves in relation to the consumed news—for example, through commenting, sharing, or react

New publication alert 🥁. UBC j-prof @oriten.bsky.social on how people limit the visibility of their interactions with the news, via the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.

The article draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I thank Bridget Stringer-Holden and Shaurya Kshatri for their invaluable assistance during the research process, as well as the Angus Reid Group for their help in participant recruitment

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The study advances the understanding of news engagement by suggesting that it involves the management of visibility boundaries and by elucidating barriers to public expression

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The study also presents three ways to limit news engagement visibility, including lower 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒, more private 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒, and more closed-ended 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒

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Based on interviews and literature on privacy, avoidance, and engagement, I propose the 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑃'𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 to explain the reasons behind limited news engagement visibility: protection, pointlessness, personality, and particularity. Each is presented in detail

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The article focuses on what I term 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦—the extent to which a user’s involvement with news content can be seen by others. This visibility is shaped by a user’s tendencies to express themselves or avoid such expressions in relation to news beyond consuming it

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Under-the-radar engagement: how and why news users limit their public expression Abstract. Beyond digital news consumption, users may express themselves in relation to the consumed news—for example, through commenting, sharing, or react

How and why do people limit the visibility of their interactions with news? My newly published article in the 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑟-𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 examines these questions, drawing on in-depth interviews with news users in Canada
academic.oup.com/jcmc/article... (open access)

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