Topics and use of Push notifications of Spanish media apps during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Push notifications are a resource of the Spanish media today. Its use arises from the mobile applications that have the headers in Google Play and AppStore, the two great "markets" of Western applications. These applications, of native programming, allow the sending of short headlines to the users of mobile devices (Smartphones and digital tablets), on the desktop screen of their mobile terminal, if the user has downloaded the application of the medium and has given consent. This study analyzes, over a period that covers more than three weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic, the typologies and themes of the headlines sent related to this dramatic situation, their topic, and the way in which the newsrooms approached the information sent to readers through this state-of-the-art communication channel. The results determine certain coincident submission biases in the ten applications analyzed and, in turn, divergences in the editorial approaches of the different media. Given the few studies of this nature carried out, it is considered necessary to observe the criteria used to inform readers about these shipments that, as a teletype (short and accurate headline, with limited characters), instantly informs users.