Incidental Exposure and News Engagement: Testing Temporal Order and the Role of Political Interest

In the contemporary media environment, and particularly on social media platforms, people are embedded in multiple, intersecting flows of political information generated by a wide range of curating actors, and two sets of predictions have emerged in the literature to explain these dynamics of political information exposure and engagement. Theory on incidental exposure suggests that it will lead to news engagement, particularly among the least politically interested individuals. Meanwhile, research on news algorithms suggests the reverse temporal ordering and an antecedent role for political interest. The goals of this study are to (a) theoretically integrate these claims into the 'curated flows' framework, (b) to test orthogonal predictions about temporal ordering and the role of political interest, and (c) to compare models by testing cross-lagged relationships between incidental exposure and news sharing. Analysing a two-wave online survey of adult internet users in the United States, results show support for both sets of predictions; however, results also show key differences in the role played by political interest. Results are discussed in light of their implications for theory about news exposure and engagement in the contemporary media environment.