Caymans Post

A world within. A state apart.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Teens turning to TikTok and Instagram for news, Ofcom says

Teens turning to TikTok and Instagram for news, Ofcom says

More teenagers are turning away from traditional media outlets and getting their news from social media, new research from Ofcom has shown.

The number of people consuming news content on TikTok has increased from 800,000 in 2020 to 3.9 million in 2022.

For the first time, Instagram is the most popular news source among younger people - used by 29% of teens in 2022 - with TikTok and YouTube close behind.

But print, TV and radio news outlets still dominate in older age groups.

The growth in news consumed via TikTok is being driven mainly by younger age groups - half of users consuming news on the platform are aged 16-24.

The number of people consuming news via the video sharing platform is now similar to the number using the Sky News website and app, Ofcom said.

TikTok users who took part in the study said they get more of their news from "other people they follow" (47%) than from news organisations' own accounts (24%).

Increasingly, news stories also originate on the platform. Earlier this week, a video showing a student being harassed by a man on a Cardiff street was watched more than two million times and picked up by news outlets.

And the recent high-profile libel case between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp dominated the video sharing platform, with many users watching the proceedings unfold live on YouTube before selecting clips to share with their followers on TikTok.


'Increasingly unlikely'


Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom's group director for strategy and research, said in a statement that teenagers nowadays are "increasingly unlikely to pick up a newspaper or tune into TV news", preferring to stay informed by "scrolling through their social feeds".

"And while youngsters find news on social media to be less reliable, they rate these services more highly for serving up a range of opinions on the day's topical stories," he added.

Despite its newfound popularity though, less than a third of young people (30%) asked in the study said they actually trusted the news content they found through TikTok.


That teenagers are using Instagram and TikTok for news is probably not a surprise. It was perhaps more surprising that, right up until 2020, BBC One remained their number one source of news and still remains top of the list for "most important source". The research shows 59% say they still watch some news on TV.

However, for anyone interested in which news sources are most influential, this new research makes interesting reading.

The decline of printed newspapers has been apparent for many years, but the drop in the last two years has been startling. In 2020, 35% of the population (the vast majority over the age of 55) were still reading a paper, but that's now dropped to 24% - a drop of almost a third.

It appears deliveries and popping out for a paper are some of the former daily habits which were disrupted by Covid.

And for those hoping digital readership was replacing print, it's not good news. Online reach for newspaper websites also dropped slightly (from 20% to 19% of the population).

However, it's worth noting that this misses out a crucial part of the news landscape. The news agenda is still, in many ways, driven by what appears on front pages and news websites.

Instagram and TikTok are popular platforms for news, but the stories themselves often have their origins in what used to be called Fleet Street.

And what's easily forgotten is that the biggest source of news for teens isn't Instagram but their families (65%), and mum or dad are probably not relying on TikTok just yet.

The Ofcom report also shows an acceleration in the decline in consumption of traditional outlets, particularly among young people.

BBC One and BBC Two, previously the most popular news sources among teenagers, have been knocked off the top spot and are now down in fifth place.

Just under a quarter (24%) of those asked used the those channels to find news last year, compared with almost half (45%) five years ago.

For adults in the UK the picture is a little different however, as BBC One remains the most used news source.

Sales of physical newspapers have fallen further in the last two years as daily habits were disrupted by Covid lockdowns


TV news generally remains the most trusted source among most (71%) adults, with news on social media deemed to be the least reliable (35%).

CNN (83%) was found to be the most trusted of the all the news channels, with Sky News (75%) in second place and the BBC (73%) in third, followed closely by ITV (70%).

Sixty-seven percent of newcomer GB News's viewers said they trusted its reporting.

There is still a trend for traditional networks like BBC, ITV and Sky News being in general decline in terms of overall viewing figures, which are now below pre-pandemic levels.

Readership of print and online newspapers among adults (38%) also declined again this year, the study suggested, with a significant decrease from 2020 (47%) and 2018 (51%).

When the newspapers' online presence was removed, those consuming news solely from physical papers also declined from 35% in 2020 to 24% in 2022.

The use of newspapers among teenagers fell from 19% to 13% in the past five years.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Caymans Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×