Focusing on the Reader: Engagement Trumps Satisfaction by Rachel Davis Mersey, Edward C. Malthouse and Bobby J. Calder. (Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly published online 5 September 2012 DOI: 10.1177/1077699012455391)
Abstract:
Satisfaction is commonly monitored by news organizations because it is an antecedent to readership. In fact, countless studies have shown the satisfaction–readership relationship to be true. Still, an essential question remains: Is satisfaction the only, or even the critical, thing to focus on with readership? This research indicates that the answer is no. Two other related constructs, reader experiences and engagement, affect reader behavior even more than does satisfaction. The discussion provides examples of how to increase engagement and calls for experimental research to understand how news organizations can positively affect engagement and thereby readership.
In the course of the paper, the authors discuss which definition of “engagement” they will be using:
In both arenas, marketing and journalism, the term engagement has been readily used, and often misused—both causing confusion about the definition of the word and affecting the usefulness of the concept in research and in practice. The disagreement regarding the nature of the role of television in civic engagement, whether the influence of television be positive or negative, is an example of how differing definitions, and specifically how the construct of engagement is operationalized, can create different results even in high-quality research.11 So while researchers tend to rely on mathematically reliable multi-item measures of engagement, as in work by Livingstone and Markham, we cannot be assured that engagement is similarly defined in each body of research.12
An opportunity for topic maps that I won’t discuss right now.
Earlier the authors note:
If content, however distributed, fails to attract readers/users, no business model can ultimately be successful.
That seems particularly relevant to semantic technologies.
I won’t spoil the conclusion for you but the social aspects of using the information in day to day interaction play an unexpected large role in engagement.
Will successful topic map application designers ask users how they use information to interact with others?
Then foster that use by design of the topic map interface and/or its content?