Credit: Courtesy Reuters Instutute Instagram has long had a reputation as a place to escape the ‘real’ world, through carefully curated feeds of wholesome thoughts, videos and images. But over the past year Instagram, along with other youth focussed social platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok, has become full of heated debates around politics, race, and other issues of social justice – alongside updates about the coronavirus pandemic. Leading these debates are often not journalists but the celebrities, influencers and creators who dominate social online spaces – from lifestyle bloggers to reality TV personalities.Over the last few years, our Digital News Report has documented the increased reliance of young people on social media when it comes to news. Four in ten (40 per cent) of those aged 18-24 say that social media is their main source of news, averaged across our 46 countries. We have also documented how these groups are spending less time with networks like Facebook and more time with visual networks like Instagram, Snapchat and now TikTok. More than a quarter of 18-24s now say they access news on Instagram each week and around one in ten access news on TikTok, a network previously almost entirely devoid…
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Influencers lead news debates in youth-focussed social networks, leaving journalists in the shade
