Scrolling headlines and clicking stories: content differences and implications associated with increased scrollability of news

Technological affordances have changed how people consume news; more people report scrolling headlines than actually reading stories. Despite the commonality of headline scrolling, we know relatively little about how headlines differ from full stories, and the consequences of these unique information environments for public opinion and political behavior. In this study, we use a replica newsfeed to track the stories participants scroll by and click on (N = 1,051), and complement this with a content analysis of the headlines and stories. Our findings show that headlines are more negative in tone when compared to stories and that people are more likely to click on negative headlines. Despite the contrast in information environments, with the exception of affective polarization, we find little difference between those who are more likely to scroll headlines and those who click on stories across a variety of political behaviors.