Explaining when and why news users make diverse choices

What is it about?

News recommenders increasingly play a role in helping users to decide which news stories to read. In this study, we looked at different factors that might influence those decisions and also impact whether the selected articles are expected (in line with people's preferences) or unexpected and by that increase the diversity of their news diet. We tested the influence of user control, position of the news article, and behaviour of the user in the short and long term on news selection in a news application built for this study.

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Photo by Obi Onyeador on Unsplash

Photo by Obi Onyeador on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our results contribute to a better understanding of the interaction of news recommender systems and humans and how this shapes which news articles get chosen.