How youngsters consume news

Younger generations keep up with the news in different ways to their elders.

Rather than turning to traditional media such as radio, television and newspapers, they prefer social networks.

It seems that the younger generations have an ambivalent relationship with the media. If they have little confidence in the different means of accessing news and in journalists, young people are nonetheless interested in news.

The latest Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute details the media consumption of people aged 18 to 34. This age group encompasses two subgroups: the “social natives” (young adults aged 18 to 24 who grew up with social networks); and the “digital natives” (the 25-34 year olds who grew up with digital technology, but before the rise of social networks).

It turns out that they do not have the same relationship with the different ways of accessing news.

Some 45% of Brits aged between 25 and 34 go to the website or mobile app of a general media outlet to follow the news.

In comparison, only 28% of those aged 18 to 24 do that. The latter are more likely to get their news from social networks, aggregator sites and search engines.

They appear to be particularly fond of highly visual news sources like Instagram, Telegram and more recently TikTok.

In just a few years, the Chinese application has become part of the media routine of “social natives”. Thus eight percent of British people between 18 and 24 years old use it.

However, they are much more likely to use Twitter (21%) and Instagram (17%) for news.

If their elders, the “digital natives” also get their information on social networks, they are much more loyal to Meta, with which they grew up.

Younger generations prefer social networks to traditional media for many reasons. They appreciate the informal tone and the freedom of approach. –