The Traditional Ways of Communicating Development Online
For many years, organizations that advocate for societal and political progression, policy changes for vulnerable groups of people, and other types of social development have been communicating their demands, work, and progress online. There have been a variety of ways of communicating those on distinct channels to different audiences. Among them are, posting call-to-action campaigns on Instagram and Facebook, tweeting to take a political stance on a current issue, or sending e-mail newsletters to keep members and donors updated. The Meta channels (Facebook and Instagram), X (formerly known as Twitter), and e-mails have all been established channels of private, interpersonal communication for at least 10+ years. Over the past years, these have also all become channels for organizations, businesses, institutions, celebrities, and politicians to officially and publicly communicate.
Social Isolation and its Impact on Social Media Consumption Habits
The pandemic and its consequent periods of lockdowns in many places in the world and the social isolation that came with that resulted in an enormous rise in the consumption of social media content. Various digital media channels became the primary destination for news, information, and education but also for human interaction and connection. Simultaneously, screen time also provided entertainment and other forms of escapism from reality. Consequently, the pandemic has had lasting effects on the usage of social media channels. In fact, according to a large-scale survey from 2022, there has been a global 20% increase in social media usage compared to before the pandemic (Dixon, 2022). Next to the abovementioned more established platforms, additional channels have gained popularity or a spike in downloads and active users, especially among Gen Z and millennials. The next two sections discuss two of them, namely TikTok and podcasts.
TikTok
Amongst them is first and foremost TikTok, a short-video sharing platform. Anyone can upload videos between 5 and 120 seconds and it is known for its entertaining videos often accompanied by snippets of popular music. According to TikTok, 80% of the users in the US are between age 16-34 (Doyle, 2023). This means Gen Z and millennials are the main content creators and users. The pandemic led to an additional spike in downloads. In the first half of 2019, the app registered 343 million downloads, whereas it had downloaded 615 million by the first half of 2020. In fact, there has been a 38% increase in active users worldwide from 500 million in 2019 to 689 million in 2021 (Statista, 2023). By the end of 2021, the app reported over a billion active users (Bursztynsky, 2021). In other words, the platform has gained and continues to have an immensely huge younger audience. Although most of the content is usually focused on entertainment, such as dancing, pranks, memes, fashion, and beauty. Yet, each algorithm is individually and hyper-specifically tailored to the individual’s homepage, which is called the “For You”-page. Hence, depending on the content that the user interacts with or seeks out, the individual will get tailored content. That also means that this could be an opportunity for organizations with a cause to reach a hyper-specific audience. Therefore, the focus of the next article will investigate when or if it makes sense for non-profit, non-governmental, and other social development organizations to post content on TikTok and its chances and potential pitfalls.
Podcasts
Another media channel that gained immense popularity amongst Gen Z and millennials is the genre of podcasts, an audio-based radio-like platform with content on demand. Although it has been around since the early 2000s, it established itself in 2016 professionally (SMIT, 2023). It gained additional popularity amongst Gen Z and millennials at the heights of social isolation in 2020 and 2021. According to Voxnest, the podcast industry experienced growth during the pandemic with a 42% increase in worldwide listenership and a 53% increase in Europe (SMIT, 2023). Latest since the pandemic, podcasts have established themselves as a channel to educate oneself on news and politics, science, arts, culture, and more. Other genres are focused on self-improvement or on entertainment that centers on true crime, comedy, and pop culture. Hence, it features a variety of content, similar to TikTok, yet usually, the content is longer and produced by multiple people. In contrast, the algorithm is not as advanced as TikTok’s and the advertising of podcast channels still happens mostly through word-of-mouth or in-episode ads. Yet, this type of medium also has the potential to dive deeper into causes employing journalistic research, discussing them verbally, and publishing those debates for interested folks. Thus, another article will investigate podcast production as a possible channel for communication for development and its opportunities and possible challenges. Stay updated to follow along!