Testing the Social Media Produsage Hypothesis

ABSTRACT

Despite frequent assertions that produsage is manifest in social media, its underlying proposition – that production and consumption are correlated – has yet to be empirically measured. A representative survey (n = 1,179) of social media users affirmed the produsage hypothesis. The correlation endured amid subsequent testing of potential confounding factors or plausible alternative explanations. Higher levels of production (posting vs. responding or sharing) were associated with greater consumption of news and information, both in active and passive forms. The association persisted when controlling for age, gender, education, general social media use, and propensity for online interaction. This first-ever verification of produsage affirms it is more than a clever portmanteau; it is the engine fueling social media. The linkage of production and consumption profoundly alters the acquisition and generation of news-information. Seen through communication of identity, a theory that can justify the produsage concept, social media are alluring because they may be tools to construct selfhood.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication theory of identity
• news
• information
• produsage
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Study data on Figshare: https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Produsage1_sav/13296542

Open scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badge for Open Data. The data are openly accessible at https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Produsage1_sav/13296542

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by internal research funds from the first author’s college.

Notes on contributors

Norman P. Lewis

Norman P. Lewis is an associate professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. His research focuses on news culture and its manifestations in plagiarism, social media, and data journalism. He received his PhD from the University of Maryland.

Eisa Al Nashmi

Eisa Al Nashmi is an associate professor in the department of mass communication and journalism at Kuwait University. His research focuses on political communication, online journalism, and media practices in the Arab World. He received his PhD from the University of Florida.

T. Franklin Waddell

T. Franklin Waddell is an associate professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. His research focuses on the effects of new media that either afford the opportunity for self-expression (such as avatars) or allow individuals to monitor the collective opinion of others (such as online comments). He received his PhD from Penn State University.