1. Do you read comments?
The appeal of user generated
comments on a video-sharing
site
Laeeq Khan
Michigan State University
Convergence, Las Vegas
Friday, October 25th, 2013

2. Introduction
 Engagement with media on a range of interactive
platforms
 Commenting provides users with unprecedented
opportunities to participate
 Comments an important element of Web 2.0
 Are available to read to a vast number of readers, having
the potential to impact user perceptions

3. What they say
 Do you read comments?
 If yes, why?

4. Theoretical Foundation
 Uses & Gratifications -- Understanding why and
how individuals seek out specific media to satisfy
specific needs (Ruggiero, 2000).
 What needs & goals motivate individuals to
consume media?
4

5. Methods
 Online Survey
 Students (n=1512) at a large mid-western university
 Understanding user behavior on a video-sharing
site (YouTube)
Data Cleaning
Descriptives
Linear
Regressions

6. Gender and Race
Mixed
Native American
Male
37%
Hispanic
African American
Femal
e
63%
Asian
Caucasian
0
0.5
1
6

7. YouTube Visit
Frequency
50%
45%
42%
40%
35%
30%
25%
21%
20%
20%
15%
11%
10%
7%
5%
0%
Once a month or
less
Once a week or
less
Several times a
week
Once Everyday
Several times a
day
7

8. Regression

9. Regression Results
 Users’ comment reading behavior was predicted by:
 the frequency of site visit
 writing comments
 information seeking
 entertainment
 Adjusted R-square of 0.316

10. Key Findings
 Individuals read comments
 Avid social media users are more likely to read
comments
 Information seeking and Entertainment stand out as
main motives of reading comments

11. Future Work
 Extending the work to other social and news media
platforms
 Understanding how reading comments impacts user
perceptions

12. Thank you!