Sport News on Facebook: The Relationship Between Interactivity and Readers’ Browsing Behavior

This study analyzes how interactivity on Facebook relates to users’ browsing behaviors such as clicking a link, visiting a Web site, clicking articles on a Web site, and spending time on a sports news Web site. Regression analyses of 502 Facebook posts and the corresponding news articles show that the number of individuals who clicked on a link is not related to higher levels of interactivity, but an increase in interactivity did affect the number of overall visits generated. In addition, higher levels of interactivity had a slight negative correlation with the number of pages visited and the time spent on an organization’s Web site. Implications for the training and work routines of sport communication professionals in organizations, journalism, and public relations are discussed.