Interactivity Features of Online Newspapers: Use and Effect on Gratification Among Zambian Readers

Interactivity in online newspapers is the focus of this chapter in eliciting readers’ evaluation of Zambian online newspapers. This aspect of the study investigates and characterises the motivations (gratification sought) for use of interactivity features (“process motivation”) and how widely they are used. It also attempts to ascertain the gratification obtained from their use among readers. The probable relationships between use of the interactivity features (“audience interactivity”) and gratification obtained from them (“process gratification”) and the impact of the perceived credibility of the online newspapers on gratification are also examined. Past studies present mixed results on use of interactivity and gratification obtained from it. This study finds that use of interactivity in Zambian online newspapers is at a low level, although among the three broad categorisations of features of online newspapers, interactivity attracts greater use than hyper-textuality and multi-mediality. Human interactivity features—“knowing what others think about an issue”, “chat on the Facebook page of the newspaper”, “ability to navigate on the Facebook page of the newspaper”, and “posting own comments on stories”—are the main motivations for use of online newspapers, the most frequently used, and the most gratifying to the readers. While readers express an interest in interacting with other readers via online newspapers, they seem less interested in posting their own stories as “citizen journalists” and linking up with the publishers and editors. This finding challenges the notion that all new media are catalysts of participatory and cyclic communication.