Distribution of news information through social bookmarking: an examination of shared stories in the Delicious Website

Introduction. This study examined the selection and sharing of news stories from Delicious, a popular social bookmarking site, in order to identify the most frequently consulted news information sources and news topics. Method. Targeting US-specific sources through initial computer screening of URLs, we employed content analysis to further analyse story topics and sources that were unclassified through the initial computer screening method. Analysis. After examining frequencies and percentages of the variables, a qualitative analysis was employed to assess relationships between story sources and story topics. Results. Findings document the diverse nature of stories from both traditional and new media channels. Social media sources, primarily blogs, are growing as a major news source. Prominent traditional news media were not exclusively used, and the sheer volume of uncategorized pages suggests that online news seekers consider alternative Web pages encountered during casual navigation as news sources. Conclusions. What online news audiences consider to be news is becoming increasingly broad and complex with unclassified sources dominating tagged stories. New information sources appear to make up for deficient story topics in the mainstream media.