1. Group 1 – Summary of Qualitative Research April 5, 2010 Delia Chavarria, Susan Houlihan, Mark Kunkel, Sarah Milstein, Mark Yeh

3. Obtain information about the trends and preferences in how undergraduate students get their news.

4. Methodology:

5. Facebook focus group

6. Recruited students using help from contacts in our personal networks, targeting undergraduates ages 17-24.

7. Offered $10 Amazon gift certificate for participation.

8. Enrolled 5 participants (from CSU Fresno (2), Drury College, University of Colombia, and Oberlin College)

9. Provided instructions via Facebook, and posted 10 questions over 4 days

11. Facebook participants by default may prefer more online and social networking sites

14. They receive and verify news from a variety of sources and on a variety of devices (work computer, home computer, laptop, mobile, TV)

15. They obtain news mostly through TV and online

16. They typically get links to news from social networking sites and feeds/emails from various sources; they also check certain sites regularly

17. Guilty pleasure: entertainment news

18. They also value local news

19. They appreciate user-friendly, aesthetically appealing news sources that allow them to interact and share stories with others

22. Most mentioned local news. They also like to indulge in entertainment news (celebrity gossip).

23. Others mentioned: Arts, Technology, and Politics.

24. Media used to obtain news:

25. Most mentioned using the Web and TV

26. Others mentioned trying to read the newspaper or local college publications such as “The Undercurrent”

27. Favorite websites to obtain news:

28. Most mentioned CNN, Twitter, and Facebook

29. Some also mentioned USA Today, ABC News, Washington Post, NY Times, Yahoo Only one participant mentioned Huff Po and it was in a negative context

31. Clear user interface – nice layout, easy to read, and navigate

32. Ability to share stories

33. Links to videos

34. Speed of download and with which stories are sent via texts, etc

35. Up-to-date information

36. No login required

37. No obtrusive ads

38. Short and sweet articles

39. Celebrity gossip

40. Nice to have for sites used to obtain news:

41. Personalized, mobile alerts and feeds to readers

43. Most like to get their news via text/email alerts, postings on social networking sites (push)

44. Some mentioned easy to use mobile phone apps, going to websites like CNN and USA Today daily or watching TV to obtain the news

45. Devices used to obtain news:

46. Most use laptops and mobile phones

47. Some also use TV

48. Trends in how undergrads obtain news:

49. Via mobile phones

51. Personalize news alerts/feeds to Huff Po readers

52. Create platforms and support external social network/community interactions around Huff Po content

54. Design, features, and functionality of the site in general

55. Content for the college section in particular

56. Importance of certain features and functionality, plus detail on what students would like to have added to the Huff Po website as far as features, functionality, and content

57. Confirmation of how students like to get their news (push vs pull), and the devices they like to use