British report: Algorithm pushes according to preferences, British teenagers love to watch news on TikTok
[Global Times Comprehensive Report] With the rapid development of social media platforms, people no longer only use them to share their lives, but also to obtain various information, including news. According to the British “Guardian” report on the 20th, the short video sharing platform TikTok has now become the most popular source of news for teenagers aged 12 to 15 in the country.
The “News Consumption Report” released by the British Communications Authority a few days ago shows that among British teenagers aged 12 to 15, 28% will get news from TikTok, which is the most used single news source among all platforms. 25% each use YouTube and Instagram for news. However, if all channels including the radio, television, website and web client of the British mainstream media British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are included, its coverage rate is still the highest, reaching 39%. According to reports, the reason for TikTok’s popularity is that its algorithm can push content to users according to their preferences.
According to reports, for British people over the age of 16, traditional radio and television is still the most important channel to obtain news, and 70% of people still use these media, but the usage rate has dropped significantly in the past five years. The usage rate of the most popular BBC One has dropped by 62%, the usage rate of British Independent Television (ITV) has dropped by 41%, and the usage rate of the once popular social network platform Facebook has also shown a downward trend.
According to some analysts, the ability of social media platforms such as TikTok to become a popular source of news is related to the presence of many news publishers. According to the British “News” report, the number of followers of many leading British and American news publishers on the TikTok platform is growing rapidly. Since May last year, the number of followers of BBC News has increased from 35,000 to 784,000 in January this year, an increase of more than 20 times. In addition, the number of followers of accounts such as CNN, the British “Independent”, and British Sky News also increased by more than 200%.
