Readers' Motivations to Participate in Hyperlocal News Content Creation

Abstract

Readers are increasingly participating to news content creation by submitting user-generated content (UGC). We studied the participation motivations of active readers who send photo content to a hyperlocal news publisher. The first results based on an online questionnaire indicate that fun, the opportunity to get a monetary reward and informing others of local issues are the strongest motivators. In addition, participation to the news making activity and self-expression are important motivations. Those who intentionally planned and searched for topics to report with photos, reported more often the opportunity for extra income and development as a photographer as participation motivations than those, who captured photos when a good topic came about.