TIKTOK becomes a popular news communication platform in the United States

Author: Yang Bo (Lecturer of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Source: "Young Reporter", No. 13, 2022

Although the overseas version of Douyin Tiktok has repeatedly blocked in the United States, it still becomes the most downloaded application software in American mobile phone users in 2021. According to statistics, in 2021, the download volume of TITOK American mobile phone users was about 94 million times, and the second -ranked Instagram (about 64 million times), the third -ranking Snapchat (about 56 million times) was far behind, Facebook (About 47.3 million times) is unable to compare with YouTube (about 47 million times). In the first quarter of 2022, TIKTOK also became the largest number of downloads in the world, with nearly 1.6 billion global monthly active users. Under more and more people choose to obtain information on new media, TIKTOK has become a popular platform for American news communication.

Many news agencies operate the TIKTOK account

The Washington Post has published short videos every week since registering the TIKTOK account at the end of May 2019, and has attracted 1.4 million fans every week. The following "American" released the first Tiktok short video on November 5, 2019, and also received 1.3 million fans. In recent years, many American newspapers, journals, radio and television stations, including the Los Angeles Times, News Weekly, National Public Radio (NPR), and Columbia Broadcasting News (CBS News). More contacts are established.

Although some institutions initially tentatively arranged a journalist to produce and release Tiktok videos, as their TIKTOK account attracted attention, these institutions saw the huge potential of TIKTOK in attracting the audience, especially young audiences, and started to start. Establish a TIKTOK team. For example, the Washington Post has established a Tiktok three -person group, including a producer, a deputy maker, and a Tiktok community editor. Although the Los Angeles Times has not released short videos on the Tiktok account from November 3, 2021, a reporter has been established on June 1 this year, including a 7 -person team, including a creative content director , Two producers, a host, a community administrator, a puppet master, and an atmosphere curator, together with the previous reporter, operate the Tiktok account.

"One of the benefits brought by TIKTOK is that it enhances the trust between the Washington Post and our fans," said the Washington Post's Tiktok team producer and senior video reporter David Jorgansen, "And they It is really great to look at us with different eyes. "He also explained that another advantage of using Tiktok was that when Tiktok users did not understand the Washington Post, it could attract them to become the potential" Washington Post "Reader:" Some people think that we are in Washington, which is good, because I can correct them and tell them that we are a 143 -year -old newspaper. This is a kind of sense of presence in the Z generation group. Interesting and humble way. "

Various news communication strategies

The Tiktok video of Columbia Broadcasting News is mainly the recent important or novel news that this station is re -edited. However, for news agencies in the form of news products, transforming the highlights of the product into a TIKTOK video and obtaining good communication effects must adopt a variety of communication strategies.

In some TIKTOK videos of the Washington Post, the relevant text of the news abstract will be placed in a striking background color box. Following the rhythm of the latest hot songs or words, the team members will also set up with the rhythm and The news content is interesting and even exaggerated. In other videos, the team members will introduce the main content of the news in the form of funny conversations. There are also some videos that will interact with important news characters. The heavy series reports that the newspaper will be published will be published. The visit to the newspaper building and interacted with the newspaper's Tiktok team members. On the same day, a link to the 50th anniversary of the report of the water gate incident report appeared on the account homepage. The "golden sentence" video interview will also appear on the Tiktok account of the newspaper. The video released on June 17, 2022 edited a clip of Jonatsen's interview with the famous American TV host Jonathan Vannce. Nes said: "I agree with social media inquiries from the Social media. The news provided by the source of the news ... I also think that TIKTOK and the photo wall are precious ways to get information, but I don't think they are the end of the information I can get information without my own verification. "This not only promoted the Washington Post The Tiktok account and its new communication strategy in TIKTOK also warned Tiktok users to carefully identify the source of news that is not so "respected", and obtained more from professional media such as the Washington Post TIKTOK account. news.

In addition to these "conventional" communication strategies, some news agencies have also taken a different approach, attracting more Tiktok fans. For example, the TIKTOK account of the National Public Radio's global economic column often uses a novel way to decorate a multi -angle to introduce the theme of the latest season. Another striking phenomenon is that a sheep puppet appeared in a short video released by the Los Angeles Times on June 9 this year, informing everyone of the Southern California Metropolitan Water Affairs Bureau set up 80 gallons per person per day The water -saving goal and "experienced" what a person can do with 80 gallons of water, and the video received more than 1 million clicks. Many Tiktok users expressed their love for team creativity in the comments, and also conducted warm discussions on the topic of water conservation. Not only are news agencies looking for a variety of effective TIKTOK news communication strategies, journalists, editors, and video producers also explore effective Tiktok news video production strategies in offline forums and online sharing and discussions. The strategies widely mentioned are: control the video time within one minute and carefully polish the content of 15 seconds before, broadcast the behind -the -scenes story of news reports, find colleagues with curiosity and open thinking as team partners, deeply understand TIKTOK’s TIKTOK’s The algorithm continues to adjust the video production according to the user's message to the video, learn the latest audio and video production technology, and abandon the psychological and kitsch content. These strategies are designed to create a balance: on the one hand, we must adhere to the quality of the news; on the other hand, let news practitioners come out from behind the news and communicate with readers with valuable and interesting exchanges.

Young audience favors Tiktok News

The annual survey carried out by the 93432 people in 46 countries released in June this year found that 40%of the 18 to 24 -year -old people use Tiktok, of which 15%use the platform to obtain news -this ratio is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion is the proportion. The corresponding proportion of 2019 is 5 times. These "social aborigines" don't trust Facebook, known for their fake news, and they prefers a visual platform like Tiktok. After all, people are more willing to believe the news that they see through their eyes.

The survey also found that these youth groups hope to get news in a easier way. In recent years, political crisis, international conflicts, and global epidemic have made American youths often feel worried. They pay attention to these important topics, but do not want them to show them in the news in a traditional way. Tiktok video is concise and concise, and can allow reporters to break through the restrictions of traditional media style, freely express personal opinions in the media, and interact with fans. This allows heavy topics to contain more hopes for openness.

In addition, compared with the old social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, Tiktok's push is less influenced by the user's attention, and more driven by the algorithm. This algorithm will take into account what users like and other ages of the same age. What are people looking at. This allows Tiktok's young users to get more news content they favor. "It is too addictive," said a 22 -year -old American female interviewee when talking about Tiktok, "it behaved very well and became the source of the news I chose. I often brush Tiktok for other reasons, But the algorithm finally provided me with the news I needed. "

The dilemma from free news to paid news

Lena Wilson, the project manager of the New York Times and freelance writer, has more than 127,000 fans on Tiktok. She published an investigation report on a false scientific application in July 2021, and she was printed with printed. The T -shirt with the word "pay for the news" promoted the main content of the publicity and report on Tiktok, which was praised more than 7,000 times. However, some Tiktok users are discovered that if they want to read the entire report, they will be dissatisfied with paid on the New York Times website: "This isolated the poor from information." Wilson also released a short video about popular movies about movies The video was watched about 2.1 million times, but the relevant news links only received about 6,000 clicks. Although many journalists want Tiktok users to pay attention to their traditional news reports, most Tiktok users have shrunk after encountering the paid wall.

But perhaps the cost is not the main reason why Tiktok users shrink back in the face of traditional news reports. Wilson discovered: "Some Tiktok users seem to think that who thinks they should have the news with the news, who is offending them." According to statistics, as of 2022, 2022 In April of the year, 72.7%of TIKTOK users were 18-34 years old, but among this group, the proportion of people who resist the news that they cannot understand the content of the news are much higher than those who are 35 or over. Therefore, many Tiktok users are willing to watch short -understanding news abstracts on the platform, but only few users are willing to read the entire news report. This allows deep news news to get more reading through TIKTOK.

However, there are still many news practitioners who believe that Tiktok is a good platform for improving young people's media literacy.They also believe that they can interpret complex stories through social media platforms like TIKTOK, attract them with the content and ways of young people who are happy to hear, and let them gradually contact and accept in -depth reports of high -quality and high -capacity.EssencePerhaps this is a positive way for traditional news media to adapt to the new generation of news audiences.Reference format for this article:

Yang Bo .tiktok became a popular news communication platform in the United States [J]. Young reporter, 2022 (13): 99-100.

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