Monitoring online user behaviour. The case of the Newstracker

Monitoring online user behaviour.The case of the Newstracker

Martijn KleppeIrene Costera Meijer

DHBenelux 2015, AntwerpMonday 8 June 2015

[email protected] www.martijnkleppe.nlwww.news-use.com

@martijnkleppe

The New News Consumerwww.news-use.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.martijnkleppe.nl/

http://www.news-use.com/

http://www.twitter.com/martijnkleppe



How do users consume news?


Current tools

http://www.nrc.nl/apps/bigboard/




Current tools

• Vinex:List of most visited websites+ From user perspective- (Too?) Generic

• Google Analytics:Title only+ Detailed- From website perspective

Current tools

Our Research Questions

• Which (type of) websites are visited?• When are they visited?• Which articles are visited?• Do users visit other websites in the morning

compared to evenings?• How are visits to news websites embedded in visits

to other websites (checking cycle)?• What role do form and content play?• Why do people visit websites?


Our set-upCreated a tool to monitor online behavior on

desktops & PCs Unfortunately, not (yet) tracking of mobile & tablets

50 students Young Use laptops a lot Tech savvy

14 Days of tracking

Tracking + interviews, survey & diaryThe New News Consumer

www.news-use.com

All websites


Only 4.000 websites + categories

+ Scrape textual &

visual content

Analysis File

Our set-up

Interview+ Diary

Proxy

Preliminary results – When?


00:00 - 06:00 - Nacht 06:00 - 09:00 - Ochtend-Opstaan

09:00 - 12:00 - Ochtend

12:00 - 13:00 - Lunch 13:00 - 17:00 - Middag

17:00 - 19:00 - Vooravond

19:00 - 00:00 - Avond0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000


Nieuws24%

Shopping17%

Educatie12%

Zoekmachine8%

Naslagwerk7%

Video muziek radio

5%

Overig27%

Preliminary results – What?


00:00 - 06:00 - Nacht

06:00 - 09:00 - Ochtend-Opstaan

09:00 - 12:00 - Ochtend

12:00 - 13:00 - Lunch

13:00 - 17:00 - Middag

17:00 - 19:00 - Vooravond

19:00 - 00:00 - Avond

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Nieuws Shopping Educatie ZoekmachineNaslagwerk Video muziek radio Rest

Preliminary results – When What?

Work in progress – Checking cycle


“(…) news has become integrated with all sorts of activities but

also with other websites and genres. A distinctive user pattern

in this respect is what we have called a “checking cycle,” which

involves checking the latest in terms of news, e-mail, Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, Tinder, Grindr, and so on, all in one quick

session. The aim is to continuously stay on top of all that

happens in your personal life and the world at large.”

Costera Meijer & Groot Kormelink (2014)

Work in progress – Checking cycleHow are visits to news websites embedded in visits to other websites (checking cycle)?


Datum Tijd User URL26-4-2015 15:59:33 user28 http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/6651754/3da84f40/bolle_vs_stoere_boy.html26-4-2015 16:35:01 user28 http://vi.nl/26-4-2015 16:35:01 user28 http://www.vi.nl/26-4-2015 16:35:19 user28 http://www.vi.nl/nieuws/feyenoord-sleept-met-tien-man-punt-uit-vuur-in-groningen.htm26-4-2015 16:41:43 user28 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/3247392926-4-2015 16:41:44 user28 http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32473929

26-4-2015 16:52:59 user28 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/3247056926-4-2015 16:53:02 user28 http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/3247056926-4-2015 16:53:05 user28 http://www.vi.nl/home.htm26-4-2015 16:54:02 user28 http://www.vi.nl/nieuws/promes-maakt-opnieuw-het-verschil-voor-spartak.htm26-4-2015 17:00:20 user28 http://www.soccernews.nl/news/313971/Kramer_wil_PSV-aanvallers_verslaan:_Ik_sta_er_dichtbij




Datum Tijd User URL26-4-2015 15:59:33 user28 http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/6651754/3da84f40/bolle_vs_stoere_boy.html26-4-2015 16:35:01 user28 http://vi.nl/26-4-2015 16:35:01 user28 http://www.vi.nl/26-4-2015 16:35:19 user28 http://www.vi.nl/nieuws/feyenoord-sleept-met-tien-man-punt-uit-vuur-in-groningen.htm26-4-2015 16:41:43 user28 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/3247392926-4-2015 16:41:44 user28 http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32473929


26-4-2015 17:01:51 user28 http://www.google.nl/26-4-2015 17:02:01 user28 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michiel_Kramer26-4-2015 17:02:15 user28 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_van_Duinen26-4-2015 17:02:23 user28 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gervane_Kastaneer

Work in progress – Checking cycleHow are visits to news websites embedded in visits to other websites (checking cycle)?




User28 has a checking round

We used this in the interviewsWhy these websites?How does this relate to behaviour on mobile & tablet?

Preliminary result:• Need for news about hobbys• News about hobbys is best consumed on laptops &

desktops (larger screen, easy switching)• Mobile news consumption is quick (& dirty)


What’s next?





What’s next?





What’s next?What role do form and content play?


News +Sport

Next step:

• Automated Content Analysis of text ontopic + style

• Visual Content Analysis

Pros & Cons


+ Loads of Data

+ Information for qualitative interviews

+ Insight into statistics from user perspective: Go beyond log file analysis

- Loads of data

- Qualitative research remains necessary

- Find respondents

- Infringement of privacy?

- How to scale up?

Acknowledgements


Marco Otte Hildebrand Bijleveld Leonie Durlinger Stefan Heijdra

Irene Costera Meijer Marcel Broersma Tim Groot KormelinkChris Peters Joelle Swart

Acknowledgements


Literature


Atteveldt, W. van. (2008). Semantic Network Analysis: Techniques for Extracting, Representing, and Querying Media Content. BookSurge.Batista, P., & Silva, M. (2002). Mining Web Access Logs of an On-line Newspaper. Presented at the Proceedings of the Workshop on Recommendation and Personalization in eCommerce of the 2nd International Conferenceon Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web Based Systems, Malaga. Retrieved from http://xldb.di.fc.ul.pt/xldb/publications/rpec02.pdf Bhulai, S., Kampstra, P., Kooiman, L., Koole, G., & Kok, B. (2012). Trend visualization on Twitter: What’s hot and what’s not? (pp. 43–48). Presented at the IARIA, Barcelona.Costera Meijer, I., & Groot Kormelink, T. (2014). Checking, Sharing, Clicking and Linking. Digital Journalism, 0(0), 1–16. doi:10.1080/21670811.2014.937149 Findahl, O., Lagerstedt, C., & Aurelius, A. (2013). Triangulation as a way to validate and deepen the knowledge about user behavior. A comparison between questionnaires, diaries and traffic measurement. In G. Patriarche, H. Bilandzic, J. L. Jensen, & J. Juriši?, Audience Research Methodologies: Between innovation and consolidation (pp. 54–69). New York.Manovich, L. (2012). How to Follow Software Users? Retrieved from http://lab.softwarestudies.com/2012/04/new-article-lev-manovich-how-to-follow.html Menchen-Trevino, E., & Karr, C. (2012). Researching Real-World Web Use with Roxy: Collecting Observational Web Data with Informed Consent. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 9(3), 254–268. doi:10.1080/19331681.2012.664966Nederlandse Nieuwsmonitor. (2013). Seksmoord op horrorvakantie: de invloed van bezoekersgedrag op krantenwebsites op de nieuwsselectie van dagbladen en hun websites. Retrieved from http://www.nieuwsmonitor.net/d/244/Seksmoord_op_Horrorvakantie_pdf Boczkowski, P. J., Mitchelstein, E., & Walter, M. (2011). Convergence Across Divergence: Understanding the Gap in the Online News Choices of Journalists and Consumers in Western Europe and Latin America. Communication Research, 38(3), 376–396. doi:10.1177/0093650210384989Karlsson, M., & Clerwall, C. (2013). Negotiating Professional News Judgment and “Clicks.” Nordicom Review, 34(2), 65–76. doi:10.2478/nor-2013-0054Richardson, J. E. (2007). Analysing newspapers: an approach from critical discourse analysis. Basingstoke [England]; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Usher, N. (2013). Al Jazeera English Online. Understanding Web metrics and news production when a quantified audience is not a commodified audience. Digital Journalism, 1(3), 335–351. doi:10.1080/21670811.2013.801690Vicente-Marino, M. (2013). Audience research methods. Facing the challenges of transforming audiences. In G. Patriarche, H. Bilandzic, J. L. Jensen, & J. Juriši?, Audience Research Methodologies: Between innovation and consolidation (pp. 37–53). New York.

http://xldb.di.fc.ul.pt/xldb/publications/rpec02.pdf

http://xldb.di.fc.ul.pt/xldb/publications/rpec02.pdf

http://lab.softwarestudies.com/2012/04/new-article-lev-manovich-how-to-follow.html



http://www.nieuwsmonitor.net/d/244/Seksmoord_op_Horrorvakantie_pdf



Questions?

Monitoring online user behaviour.The case of the Newstracker

Martijn KleppeIrene Costera Meijer

DHBenelux 2015, AntwerpMonday 8 June 2015

[email protected] www.martijnkleppe.nlwww.news-use.com

@martijnkleppe


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.martijnkleppe.nl/

http://www.news-use.com/




Education

Monitoring online user behaviour. The case of the Newstracker