Understanding News 2.0: A framework for explaining the number of comments from readers on online news

• The framework integrates news structure, content, and social media recommendation to explain the number of comments.
• Social media recommendation plays a relatively more important role than structural and content features.
• We explore a mediation model of recommendation in social media to explain the number of comments.
• We also conceptualized new content features of online news articles.

In the era of News 2.0, the number of comments can indicate the influence of online news, which brings potential social value and economic benefits. The present study proposes a framework that involves integrating the features of news structure, news content, and reader usage (social media recommendation) to explain the number of comments. The results of logistic regression suggest that the proposed framework is a powerful tool for explaining the number of comments (R2 = 47.1%). The relative and mediating role of recommendation in social media from readers is also explored. The theoretical and managerial implications of these results are provided.