This study examines how news organizations activity on TikTok can support children’s news consumption, using Lara Schreurs and Laura Vandenbosch’s theory of social media literacy and Birgitta Höijer’s socio-cognitive reception theory. Through focus group interviews with nine participants, aged 10 to 11, the study explores news consumption by first looking at the social media literacy of children and then examining how children interpret the accounts of Lilla Aktuellt and Juniornyheterna. Previous research shows that news organizations need to adapt to digital environments, such as social media platforms, in order to keep their audiences while the range of channels continuously grows. The way children use their critical skills when being faced with news online can affect their opportunities to become informed citizens. In order to avoid risks in these environments, children tend to depend on how relevant people, such as parents, teachers or peers, mediate their use. The main result of this study is that the social media literacy of children aged 10 to 11 is insufficient since their use of TikTok is based on affective reactions and socially constructed preferences. They experience issues with using their critical knowledge in the digital environment in an independent way. They cannot identify what accounts on TikTok that are credible sources of news without previous mediation or experience. News organizations must therefore mediate their credibility through several spheres of children’s lives in order to support them in becoming empowered news consumers on TikTok.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-477451 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Kotz, Ebba, Wattman, Emil |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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