Likes, Posts, Shares – How Do Young People Interact Online with Newsworthy Content?

Leonie Wunderlich explains in the dpa Innovation Blog how young users are exposed to news content on social media and to what extent this contact goes beyond mere “casual” consumption.

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As part of our #UseTheNews project, we examined the different practices and strategies of news consumption.  In the dpa Innovation Blog, Leonie Wunderlich reports regularly on the results. The German Press Agency is the initiator of this project.

Abstract

“I do like it, but it doesn’t really mean anything to me.” Adolescents and young adults hardly use the different interaction possibilities with newsworthy content in social media. This is shown by results from six focus groups with 14- to 24-year-olds conducted as part of the #UseTheNews project. Liking content is still the most common practice: as a rule, adolescents and young adults distribute a like when they like posts or pictures of friends or when they see interesting content. Social relationships also play a role: “I like content for emotional reasons, even with friends, I always like everything, simply because they are my friends,” says Lara, a 20-year-old student, for example.

Wunderlich, L. (2021): Liken, posten, teilen – Wie interagieren junge Leute online mit nachrichtlichen Inhalten? [Likes, Posts, Shares – How Do Young People Interact Online with Newsworthy Content?] https://innovation.dpa.com/2021/02/04/interaktion-junge-leute-online-nachrichten/ 04.02.2021