Kenya and South Africa are two of the heaviest Tiktok users in the world, a new survey by Reuters and University of Oxford shows.
Dubbed ‘The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 Survey,’ the survey determined that Kenya had a high usage of the social media platform at 54% while South Africa followed close by at 50%. The two countries were joined by several middle-income countries as reporting the heaviest Tiktok audiences for various content.
In addition, the social media platform is majorly used in Kenya and Nigeria to consume news.
According to the report, the social network reaches 44% of 18 – 24-year olds across markets and 20% for news. It is growing fastest in parts of Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America.
In Kenya, fun news (news that makes me laugh) and national politics are the leading news topics consumed on TikTok as highlighted below:
- Fun News – 53%
- National Politics – 44%
- Health – 35%
- Climate – 33%
- Ukraine – 16%
Overall, Tiktok was found to contrast traditional digital platforms specifically Facebook and Twitter when it comes to news consumption. On those platforms, media and journalists are still central to the conversation in these platforms, but not so much on TikTok.
“When it comes to news, audiences say they pay more attention to celebrities, influencers, and social media personalities than journalists in networks like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.”
Based on the survey, less than 30% of respondents said they preferred that their news selection is done algorithmically.
“Despite this, on average, users still slightly prefer news selected this way to that chosen by editors or journalists (27%), suggesting that worries about algorithms are part of a wider concern about news and how it is selected.”
Much of this change is being driven by young people in the 18-24 age bracket.
”Our data shows, more clearly than ever, how this shift is strongly influenced by habits of the youngest generations, who have grown up with social media and nowadays often pay more attention to influencers or celebrities than they do to journalists, even when it comes to news.’’ the report says.
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