Karin Schut is a researcher and has conducted research on behalf of the Dutch Media Authority into the behavior of Dutch young people in relation to the news. The report ‘Young People, Social Media and News, a look at the future of news’ takes a gloomy view of the bond that young people have with traditional news brands and their use.
Young people (16-14 years old) mainly see the news ‘passing by’ on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Messages about what is happening in the world are pushed into their timelines by algorithms, or they are forwarded from friends, family and acquaintances. They also see news on social media because they follow the accounts of NOS Stories, NOS op 3, or a relatively new phenomenon: news influencers. These are accounts of social media users who ‘translate’ the most important news every day into formats that perform well on social media. The report shows that young people’s relationship with traditional news brands is poor.
In this podcast, Carolien Vader from Bladendokter and researcher Karin Schut talk about the research. Schut talks about the research and explains the behavior of young media users in relation to the news. She also contrasts this behavior with the news diet of ‘older’ media users aged 40 to 65.
The study also questioned media makers about the use of their social media channels. And that turns out to be difficult. Traditional news brands only see limited revenue models in the use of social media. Their focus is mainly on filling the newspaper, news sites and apps. In the podcast Schut and Vader talk about the recommendations of the Media Authority. These are mainly about building a sustainable relationship with young news consumers, breaking with current genre conventions and regulating the big tech companies that play such a major role in the distribution of news.
Listen to the podcast via the player above and read the analysis of the report: ‘Young people, Social Media and News, a look at the future of news’.