Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Instagram to beat Twitter as news source

Instagram to beat Twitter as news source


Instagram, a social networking site that doubled the number of users who saw themselves as a means of receiving news in the past year, is on track to overtake Twitter as a news source, according to research.

The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020 shows that the trend of using Instagram for news has doubled since 2018. It is even stronger among the youth. According to the study, around a quarter of people in the UK between the ages of 18 and 24 used Instagram as a source of news to learn about the corona virus.



But social media has also been found to be one of the least trusted news sources. Only 26 percent said they believed the news about the corona virus being shared on social media. The same average belief was expressed in the news shared through Facebook Messenger and other chat apps.

59 percent trust both the national government and the news agency. More than a third of those surveyed are using Instagram, and two-thirds of them are now under 25.
Similarly, 11 percent use Instagram for news, which is one point less than Twitter.

"Instagram is becoming more and more popular among young people," said Nick Newman, lead author of the study.

Climate change, the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, and the coronavirus have been the subject of much-talked-about news in recent months.
Instagram is owned by social networking company Facebook. WhatsApp is also owned by Facebook.

The survey, conducted in 40 countries, also looked at the credibility of news and news organizations. Only 38 percent said they believe the news in most cases. Less than half of those surveyed, or 46 percent, said they believed in the news source they liked.
After the Kovid-19 epidemic, the credibility of news organizations increased to 59 percent.



A Reuters study showed a significant expansion of Instagram as a news source, suggesting that Facebook's decision to buy the network was one of the most lucrative in history. Newman, the study's author, said that between April and May, the number dropped by 11 points, despite more confidence in the media and the government than ever before.

Although not formally part of the study, recent surveys have shown that the "moment of national unity" is over. In addition to analyzing credibility, the study also discusses the "silent majority" who say they view "neutral" news.

Since 2013, the report's authors have stopped asking this question because of a growing tendency to express opinions and to be open-minded in news writing. In the nine countries studied, participants said they would like to hear news from a 'no-brainer' news source.

Such views were most strongly expressed in Germany, Japan, the UK and Denmark. These countries have strong and independent public broadcasters, the report said.

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