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Intrigued, But Not Immersed: Millennials Analyze the iPads Performance as a News Platform International Symposium on Online Journalism Austin, Texas April 1, 2011 Jake Batsell, assistant professor Southern Methodist University @jbatsell

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Methodology The ground rules iPad pilot program Two classes 4-day checkouts Assigned ratings Immediacy Non-linear presentation Multimedia Interactivity Blogged reviews

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Methodology Sample overview 26 female, 2 male 27 in 20s, 1 in 40s 27 U.S., 1 Bulgarian 3 Hispanic 1 Asian-American 1 African-American Typical participant was white, female American millennial college student Caveats Small sample (28) Millennials arent the news industrys target consumer for iPad apps yet

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Findings Immediacy Avg score = 3.1/5 Surprisingly stale Old news Updated once daily Standouts ESPN ScoreCenter Glamour Laggards New York Post ABC News Image credit: American Journalism Review

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Findings Non-linear presentation Avg score = 3.4/5 Passing grade Good customization Awkward navigation Limited options Standouts ESPN ScoreCenter New York Times Laggards Fox4 News (Dallas) Washington Post Image credit: Sports Illustrated

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Findings Multimedia Avg score = 3.7/5 Occasionally dazzling qualities Standouts Time Magazine New York Times Ebonys 65 th anniv. ESPN ScoreCenter Laggards New York Post GQ Image credit: American Journalism Review New York Times: The picture is unbelievably clear (much better than that on the iPhone), and the sound isnt muffled like it can be on the iPhone New York Post: Interactivity and multimedia content were very minimal (huge bummer).

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Findings Interactivity Avg score = 3.3/5 Largely disappointing Standouts Esquire New Yorker Laggards MTV News People Magazine Image credit: American Journalism Review Ebony: I think they should look into expanding readers options even further, and they might consider linking to some of their sources for those readers who want more. MTV News: Dont bother, MTV. Just stick to your website.

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Conclusions First wave of iPad News apps werent immediate or interactive enough for this group of millennials Image credit: American Journalism Review Students said premium apps arent worth the extra money yet Too many news apps resemble shovelware Students generally prefer websites to apps

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Closing Thoughts Millennials iPad news experience differs from the GenX & Baby Boomers in Reynolds iPad study Why important? 50 million millennials age 18-29 forming lifelong habits Future research: 2 nd wave of tablet apps (Xoom, Galaxy, Playbook, iPad 2) Image credit: Texas Monthly

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Thanks! jbatsell@smu.edu Twitter: @jbatsell