“Calm down, it’s just Facebook”: Transparent, Responsive, and Interactive Facebook Audience Engagement in Australian Journalism

This project examined how four Australian news organisations engage with their audiences on Facebook both during routine daily coverage and at times of ethical controversy. It combined analysis of their posts with interviews and online surveys, adding depth and scope to the analysis. A key finding was that when news sites were unresponsive to public outcry over breaches in journalism ethics, the public would allow their comments to bleed into unrelated stories across the organisation’s Facebook page. This is the first time this kind of audience behaviour has been observed and documented in Journalism Studies research.