Tapping vs. Scrolling: Effects of Different Content Acquisition Modes on Content Consumption

Tapping and scrolling are two widely adopted touch modes of content acquisition in mobile apps. We empirically investigate factors that affect users’ preferences over these two modes and their subsequent content consumption. We find that higher content quality uncertainty, higher content fit uncertainty, and lower content acquisition cost are the main reasons that scrolling is more likely to be adopted than tapping in content acquisition. We model users’ content consumption as a two-stage decision process consisting of the choice stage and interaction stage. Compared to tapping, scrolling can significantly increase users’ likelihood of choosing specific content. It can also increase (reduce) users’ likelihood of interacting with content when it generates a positive (negative) confirmation on content quality and fit. Our work sheds new light on the effects of tapping and scrolling on users’ content acquisition and content consumption. These findings provide practical implications for platforms’ content management strategies.