Creators on social media have become a primary source of news and information for many in the U.S. About one-in-five U.S. adults say they regularly get news from creators on social media, according to the Pew Research Center. That number increases among young adults with 38% of those ages 18 to 29 saying they regularly get their news from creators.
Information-focused creators play a variety of roles for their audience. I like this framework of how people keep their communities informed from the Journalism + Design lab:
Facilitating: Foster dialogue on local issues, surface community needs and priorities, and bring people together.
Commenting: Share things they know firsthand – lived or learned – to enhance the pool of knowledge people have about what’s happening in their community.
Sensemaking: Anything that helps other people make sense of what’s happening in their community and why. Translate information to make it more accessible and relevant.
Navigating: Help people navigate challenges by connecting them with resources and information to take action, find solutions and problem-solve.
Documenting: Document public meetings, community events and experiences and help preserve community history, information and knowledge.
Inquiring: Seek out multiple perspectives and original sources of information to get more context and understanding on an issue and share what they learn.
Amplifying: Help elevate underrepresented community issues or needs.
Enabling: Indirectly inform their community by ensuring that others are able to produce and share reliable news and information.
No matter the role, creators need to attain knowledge so they can inform their community.
We want to better understand where creators are getting their information from. Do you have personal or firsthand experience because of your background or profession? Are you relying on news outlets or research papers for information? Do people in your community – online or otherwise – provide you with information to look into? We’re also interested in understanding how you vet or verify the information you use.
Through this anonymous survey, we’re hoping you can answer some of those questions for us. We’ll use this information to better support creators seeking and utilizing accurate information to serve their communities.
If you have questions about the survey, please reach out to [email protected].
What we’re writing
Misinformation – especially on social media – remains difficult to study in many ways, limiting our abilities to fully understand how it impacts our decisions, behaviors and the world around us.
What we’re reading
University of Georgia: Jessica Maddox named editor-in-chief of new Creator and Influencer Studies journal
Snapchat: Snapchat Launches Creator Subscriptions
Journal of Medical Internet Research: Influencing the Influencers: How Health Experts Are Partnering With Content Creators to Fight Misinformation Online
Considered Chaos: Post-Luxury status symbols #5: Creating Community
Hollywood Reporter: Nat Geo Turns to Creators in Fresh Digital Push