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

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

3. 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 aren’t the news industry’s target consumer for iPad apps – yet

4. 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

5. 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

6. Findings Multimedia Avg score = 3.7/5 Occasionally dazzling qualities Standouts Time Magazine New York Times Ebony’s 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 isn’t muffled like it can be on the iPhone” New York Post: “Interactivity and multimedia content were very minimal (huge bummer).”

7. 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: “Don’t bother, MTV. Just stick to your website.”

8. Conclusions First wave of iPad News apps weren’t immediate or interactive enough for this group of millennials Image credit: American Journalism Review Students said premium apps aren’t worth the extra money yet Too many news apps resemble shovelware Students generally prefer websites to apps

9. 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

10. Thanks! jbatsell@smu.edu Twitter: @jbatsell