Abstract:

News Apps are the typical Applications of social reading in the field of news consumption.
Drawing upon the theory of weighted and calculated needs (WCNs) for new media and the case study of News
Apps， the present study tried to identify the perceived needs by college students which influence their adoption
and use of social reading Apps. The questionnaire survey was employed and found that three perceived needs
(WCN for news， WCN for information， and WCN for entertainment) significantly predicted both the adoption
and use behaviors by college students， while the other two perceived needs (WCN for online socialization and
WCN for offline socialization ) could not predicate the above two behaviors. The study also indicated that WCN
for expression was a significant predictor of the use behavior， but could not predict the adoption behavior
in a significant way. The findings would be valuable for social reading Apps developers to reflect the role of
socialization during reading process， and to promote their products and services in practice as well.