The typical TikTok user in the US doesn't follow news accounts

A new report from the Pew Research Center finds that Americans follow very few politicians, journalists, or traditional media outlets on TikTok. In fact, the typical American adult doesn't follow any accounts in those categories on TikTok.

Illustration photo: Reuters

For the new analysis, published on October 8, the Pew Research Center looked at 664 US adults who use TikTok and the 227,946 accounts they follow. Journalists, traditional media outlets, and politicians made up less than half of 1% of the accounts followed.

Previous studies have shown that while TikTok users, especially those under 30, are increasingly getting their news from the platform, the majority (95%) say they use TikTok for entertainment.

Looking at the accounts it followed, Pew said TikTok content related to news, politics, and current events was “quite rare.” According to the report, “only 10% of accounts posted about politics during the study period, and only 5% posted content directly related to news or current events.”

“About 12% of accounts with fewer than 500,000 followers discuss politics/news and current events. But that percentage drops to 7% among accounts with more than 1 million followers,” the report notes. Accounts that discuss news and politics also tend to combine those topics with “humor, entertainment, and other ‘light’ content.”

Nearly half (43%) of accounts discussing politics or current events also discussed entertainment and pop culture. 36% of accounts also posted humorous content. About 17% of accounts discussing politics or current events also posted sponsored or promotional content, and 14% posted dances or lip-syncs.

In 2022, Pew conducted a similar analysis of the accounts that American adults follow on Twitter. The most recent report highlighted “a key difference in following behavior” between TikTok today and Twitter two years ago.

"More U.S. adults follow Twitter accounts that are oriented toward media or journalists, government or political figures, or policy/advocacy groups than TikTok currently does," the Pew report notes. "These accounts were not nearly as popular among TikTok's most-followed accounts at the time of the study."

Ngoc Anh (according to Nieman Lab)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nguoi-dung-tiktok-o-my-thuong-khong-theo-doi-cac-nha-bao-to-chuc-bao-chi-post316334.html