Science news plays a key role in connecting scientific research with the public, shaping perceptions, and enhancing scientific literacy. This study distinguishes three types of news values for science news on social media, including general, social media-specific, and research-specific news values. Using 34,369 science news posts from Sina Weibo in China, we constructed a regression model based on a three-level framing structure to analyze the associations between different types of news values and audience engagement with science news on social media, with subgroup regressions conducted to examine heterogeneity across media contexts. Results showed that although most news values were positively associated with audience engagement, the strength and direction of these associations differed across likes, comments, and shares. Based on these findings, the study discusses implications for understanding and constructing science news based on different news values in the Sina Weibo context.
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Dai et al. (2026) studied this question.
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