Agenda-setting in social TV: How and when user comments influence perceived issue importance

As a combination of television viewing and social media use, social TV epitomizes the intersection of mass communication and interpersonal communication. However, it remains unknown how such a novel format of media experience influences the agenda-setting effects. A lab experiment (N = 120) examined (a) how user-to-user interactions in social TV (i.e. real-time comments from virtual co-viewers) affect the agenda-setting process and (b) how such effect is moderated by different interface types (e.g. all-in-one screen vs a second screen). Results suggest that participants who watched a news clip that featured many (vs few) comments from virtual co-viewers perceived the issue to be more important, but such effect was at work only when user comments were viewed on the second screen. In addition, exposure to many (vs few) comments decreased participants’ satisfaction with social TV and their intention to use social TV in the future.