The Perception of Egyptian Youth on the Richness Criteria in Electronic Newspapers and Social Media Platforms and its relationship to Using them to Follow Specialized Content

 
 This study aimed to monitor, analyze, and interpret the extent to which Egyptian youth believe in the existence of richness criteria of electronic newspapers and social media platforms, and how this reflects on their pattern of using these media to follow specialized content in general, and the following specific contents: politics, crime, economy, sports, entertainment, religion, health and science & technology. It is an explanatory analytical study that employed the uses and gratifications theory (U&S) and the media richness theory (MRT). The study used media survey methodology and used a questionnaire applied to a sample of (500) individuals
The study found that the richness criteria of a medium affect and are affected by the patterns of its use to follow specialized content. The sample confirmed that: they are interest in specialized content and sought it more through platforms than electronic newspapers - They found platforms to be richer than electronic newspapers, with Facebook being the richest platform.
There is a relationship between the sample's Perception of the richness of electronic newspapers and platforms and the specialized content suitable for publication on them. This Perception affects and is affected by: the purpose of use and motivations, and is related to the sample's evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of electronic newspapers and platforms. It turns out that :Platforms that the audience believes are highly rich (richness is related to the platform's capabilities) and which the sample uses for entertainment and to fulfill ritualistic motives were, according to the sample, the most suitable for providing light and mixed specialized content such as entertainment and sports -  Electronic Newspapers that the audience believes are less rich (and their richness is related to content quality) and which the sample uses to gather information and fulfill utilitarian motives were, according to the sample, the most suitable for providing serious specialized content such as politics and economics.
The sample agreed that the weakest elements of richness in electronic newspapers and platforms is the trust in the published information, although the level of trust in electronic newspapers is higher than in platforms. This confirms that frequency of use is not related to trust. This is reflected in the type of specialized content the sample trusted, as they had more trust in content that is easily verifiable and does not directly affect their lifestyle, such as sports in electronic newspapers and entertainment on platforms.
The results were discussed according to theoretical framework and in a comparative with previous studies, Explaining (4) main points, which are: patterns of using electronic newspapers and platforms to follow specialized content and the gratifications achieved - the richness criteria of electronic newspapers and platforms and its relationship to usage patterns and the specialized content suitable for each medium - the characteristics of processing specialized content and its relationship to the type and richness of the medium - the degree of trust in specialized content provided through electronic newspapers and platforms and its relationship to the extent of belief in their richness.