Latest news with #newsalerts
CNN
5 hours ago
- CNN
Phone users, bombarded by news alerts, are switching them off, study shows
Many smartphones users have grown weary of news alerts – the notifications regularly popping up on their screens to inform them of breaking news or other world events – according to a new analysis. A global survey by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism shows that 79% of respondents do not receive any news alerts during a typical week – and that 43% of those report having actively disabled such notifications. Those active disablers switch off alerts 'either because they feel they get too many or because they are not useful,' according to the report, published Tuesday. 'Publishers are extremely conscious of the tightrope they are walking when sending news alerts,' Nic Newman, the report's lead researcher, wrote. 'Most have strict limits on the number they send each day and clear criteria about the type of alerts as well as the best time to send them.' The institute found that the prevalence of news alerts has increased substantially over the past decade in many countries. For example, in the United States, the proportion of people receiving news notifications on a weekly basis has grown from 6% to 23% since 2014, and from 3% to 18% in the United Kingdom over the same time period. 'Many consumers say they are becoming overwhelmed by mobile notifications of all kinds – from news aggregators as well as publishers – as well as sports scores, calendar requests, messaging groups, and social media interactions,' Newman said. For instance, in the UK, the study showed that news aggregator apps like Google News and Apple News are used widely, though many respondents complained that such apps can send multiple alerts on the same topic. In the US, 16% of respondents said they had received at least one news alert from CNN over the previous week, followed by Google News, with 13%, and Fox News, with 11%. 'Alerts are an easy way to keep up-to-date, as well as to widen perspectives beyond breaking news,' Newman wrote. 'They are not valued, however, when they use oversensationalized headlines (clickbait) or when publishers send too many alerts that do not feel relevant.'
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Rise in ‘alert fatigue' risks phone users disabling news notifications, study finds
It has become a feature of modern life – millions of phones simultaneously buzz or sound the alarm as users are notified of breaking news deemed too important to miss. Now evidence is mounting that the prevalence of news alerts is giving rise to 'alert fatigue', with some mobile phone users peppered with as many as 50 notifications a day. The rise of news aggregators such as Apple News and Google on mobile devices means some users can receive more than one alert about the same story. Analysis by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that 79% of people surveyed on the subject around the world said they did not currently receive any news alerts during an average week. Crucially, 43% of those who did not receive alerts said they had actively disabled them. They complained of receiving too many or not finding them useful, according to the research, which covered 28 countries. The use of news alerts has grown over the last decade. Weekly use of alerts in the US has grown from 6% to 23% of phone users since 2014 and from 3% to 18% in the UK, according to the analysis. The extraordinary power of the BBC News alert was underlined in the research, which suggested almost 4 million people in the UK will be notified every time the broadcaster sends one. Researchers found news companies are acutely aware they are walking a delicate line between notifying users about crucial information and causing them to unsubscribe by sending them too many updates. The study discovered that some publishers are less retrained than others. In the UK, the Times sends no more than four alerts each day. The Financial Times sends a number of general news alerts to everyone and then a personalised notification at the same time each day for those who opt in. Elsewhere, the Jerusalem Post and CNN Indonesia were found to be typically sending up to 50 alerts each day, and some news aggregator apps were sending even more. A research tool used to monitor news alerts found that the New York Times averaged 10 a day, Tagesschau in Germany averaged 1.9, NDTV in India sent 29.1, while BBC News averaged 8.3 a day. The Guardian sends about seven a day, according to the same research tool. 'It is a tightrope that publishers have been walking,' said Nic Newman, the report's lead author. 'If they send too many, people uninstall the app, which is obviously a disaster. The classic problem is publishers know they shouldn't send too many individually. But collectively, there are always going to be some bad actors who are spoiling the party. 'It is definitely alert fatigue. That's partly to do with news avoidance. [Users] want to protect themselves during the day, so they are not distracted and they can get on with other things. It doesn't mean to say they're not interested in news, but they just don't want news all the time, 24 hours a day, coming at you like an express train.' The research comes amid a huge battle for the smartphone lock screen, seen as a prime location as companies seek to build a closer relationship with their audiences or customers. News alerts jostle for position alongside messages from social media companies, games and other entertainment apps. Too many alerts could cause problems for the whole industry. The big smartphone software operators such as Apple and Google have routinely warned publishers about sending too many alerts. This has led to concerns that these platforms could further restrict or mediate their notifications in the future.
