Here’s what young people think of as ‘news’ on Instagram
“That’s not news” is still a familiar reply under social posts from news organisations.
But what is ‘news’ nowadays? We know what it used to be – a selected series of stories to be printed in a newspaper once a day, or a handful handpicked for a 30 minute TV bulletin.
But the internet, and especially social media, has transformed our definitions of news, based on algorithms, personal interests and generally a shift in power away from traditional news sources and journalists.
And I’ve always been curious, if slightly wary, when reading reports and surveys about where young people ‘get their news’ from, when the term has evolved so much over recent years.
So I was fascinated by this research by a couple of Dutch academics into what 16-25 year olds in the Netherlands saw as news on Instagram.
We’ve seen how Instagram is now the top social platform for this age group in the UK for news.
Being an academic paper it’s a bit heavy going, but you can read it here. I’ve tried to distil and report the key findings below.
News feeds have greater importance in their lives than traditional news – but they can feel ‘bombarded by content’
We’ve read a lot about how news feeds across all platforms have gone from friends, family and those you follow to a more algorithmic-based approach. In Instagram’s case, it’s still a bit haphazard with the seemingly random posts inserted into my feed as I scroll – even more so with the Explore feature.
We know how it’s not in chronological order, or order of importance like a newspaper, TV bulletin or website/live blog.
As the academics call it, we’re bombarded with a “cacophony of content”, so we scroll quickly, giving most posts a very cursory glance. And we check it frequently through the day.
What is ‘the news’ on Instagram to young people, anyway?
The researchers also coined another useful phrase: “media hybridity” – it’s increasingly hard to distinguish news and information from other types of content on social media.
We now consume the widest ever range of sources of information through our feeds – for example, journalists and news organisations, friends and family, sports clubs, influencers, celebrities – or just random accounts we never knew of before popping up.
And we can treat these news sources differently, such as if we feel strong emotional reactions to them, or the content themes resonate with us, or if the algorithm shows them more prominently.
This is even more true for younger people, who aren’t so wedded to the same traditional news values that older generations or journalists have grown up on.
In this study, they generally regarded ‘news’ as new, relevant and trustworthy. But some had very narrow conceptualisations – a TV news bulletin or newspaper, but nothing else.
Instagram also encourages, directly and indirectly, a different way of creating and consuming information online. It’s more visual, vertical and imposes a limited ability for captions and links.
I still see many publishers keep their posts short and with little context, expecting users to ‘tap the link in the bio to find out more’, which seems to be a big ask unless you really feel compelled.
The way the platform allows you to more subtly indicate that a post is sponsored means that the blurring between editorial and commercial, particularly with newer publishers, can be very hard to distinguish.
Content that feels like ‘news’ is treated as such – be it the user it comes from, the traditional format and/or look or if it, or the themes.
Other factors are if it feels like it’s appealing to a very broad audience, or perceived to be of high importance. But increasingly news organisations are adapting their approach and range of stories to feel more native to the platform.
Some may explicitly announce something as NEW or NEWS to make their posts look more appealing – while politicians and those at the centre of a public storm may try to take advantage of this confusing state of ‘news’ by dismissing reports as ‘fake’ or pronouncing them as ‘not news’.
The bombardment of different types of information on Instagram, the platform’s characteristics and what young people feel and react to means that they don’t necessarily equate it to what they’ve been taught to regard as news or journalism.
It’s not a surprise that there’s been confusion over whether Instagram is a ‘news’ platform.
So how can you make your news appealing to young people on Instagram?
In short, make your story selection more relevant and appealing to your target audience. If you’re targeting young people, use your insight to focus on their interests and passion points.
Emotion, or stimulating a reaction of some kind, as we’ve seen across social media, is key. This younger audience felt that news needed to “be close emotionally” to them. It’s why subjective posts, such as activism and passion-based interests appeal, as they resonate more with them.
Also, avoid seeing it as a dumping ground for lighter and ‘celebrity’ news – of course there’s interest in those topics, but they still have to got to be relevant and connect with that audience.
And it’s not just relevance – trust is vital too. If a user sees you as a news organisation, they expect to believe what they read, and for it to have some journalism and authority behind it, rather than just speculation. If they lose that feeling, that could be damaging across all of your platforms.
As this study by NP Digital showed, captions and covers are key to making it clear to this audience why they should stop scrolling (you can read more about their analysis here.)
Use the native formats – it shouldn’t necessarily ‘feel’ like the news as we have seen over the past decades.
Don’t try to get users to go to the ‘link in the bio’ – tell them what it is there.
But of course there’s also the challenge on how you monetise being on Instagram, though…