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Abstract
This study investigated how content and context features of headlines drive selective exposure when choosing between headlines of a monthly e-mail health newsletter in a naturalistic setting over a period of nine months. Study participants received a monthly e-mail newsletter and could freely open it and click any headline to read the accompanying article. In each e-mail newsletter, nine headlines competed with each other for selection. Textual and visual information of the headlines was content analyzed, and clickstream data on the headlines were collected automatically. The results showed that headlines invited more frequent audience selections when they provided efficacy-signaling information in an imperative voice, when they used a moderate number of negative emotion words, when they presented negative thumbnail images while mentioning cancer or other diseases, and when they were placed higher in position.
Funding
The authors wish to acknowledge the funding support of the National Cancer Institute’s Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication (CECCR) located at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania (5P20CA095856 and 3P20CA095856-07S1). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the National Cancer Institute.
Notes
1. The 104 headlines consist of the following: (3 Version-Specific Headlines × 4 Versions × 8 Months) + (2 Version-Specific Headlines × 4 Versions × 1 Month).
2. Of the 4,260 participants who performed the headline selection behavior at least once during the nine-month period, about 6.2% did it every month (i.e., nine times), 6.6% did it eight times, 6.7% did it seven times, 8.6% did it six times, 8.5% did it five times, 8.1% did it four times, 12.5% did it three times, 16.5% did it twice, and 26.3% did it only once.