Instagram is ready to replace Twitter as a news source
A report by Reuters Institute Digital News found that Instagram usage for news has doubled since 2018.
A new research reveals that photo-sharing App Instagram is ready to overtake Twitter as a news source. A 2020 Reuters Institute Digital News report found that Instagram usage for news has doubled since 2018.
It is the highest trend among the youth. The report said that about a quarter of British 18–24-year-olds in the UK used Instagram as a source of news about Corona viruses.
However, it also came out of the fact that social media platforms are also among the least reliable sources. Only 26% said that they relied on social media as a source of information about the virus. A similar percentage said they relied on news that was shared through chat Apps such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
In contrast, both national governments and news organizations were trusted by about 59% of respondents. More than one-third of all survey respondents used Instagram, of which two-third are under 25 years old. 11% people used Instagram for news, which is just one point less than Twitter.
The lead author of the report, Nick Newman, said, “Instagram has become very popular among young people, they actually respond well to stories that are told in a simple way with a visual image.”
Recent months have seen great engagement on the platform regarding climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement, and Corona viruses with the help of stand-out visual stories.
Newman said, “It is not that it necessarily takes the place of the other, they can use Facebook and Instagram, or they can use Twitter and Instagram.”
Newman said that Instagram is owned by Facebook, which now reaches 85% of people every week. The company’s emphasis is on how the story should be told is still important today. Facebook also owns WhatsApp.
The Corona virus pandemic has also indicated that there has been dip in people’s confidence in the news organization. Only 38% of the people said that they trust the news on most occasions. While 46% said that they trusted their favourite Nyju source. Overall, the survey was conducted in 40 countries and a majority of just six said they could rely on the majority of the news most of the time. In Britain, it was the least to say that here only 28% people supported this, which was 12% less than the last year.
But things changed to a great extent as soon as the Corona virus crisis hit. In April, a different question was asked about Corona viruses that linked trust to information, and news organizations’ trust ratings saw a 59% increase. One of the reasons for this increased confidence in news organizations was that they focused more on public health.
