The Big Read: Is society becoming less informed as social media platforms shun hard news?

03 Oct 2022

Over the years, major social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube have made changes to their algorithms to stay competitive and relevant. The biggest change is set to come, with platforms hoping to mimic the success of TikTok. In what has been dubbed as the "TikTokification" of social media, platforms are deprioritising news and more serious content on users' feeds, which observers say will have ramifications for the news media and the proper functioning of society.  These changes have also led to the rise of social media users “who don’t seek out the news” and consume whatever the algorithm delivers to them in a social media feed, said Mr Alan Soon, a former journalist and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Splice Media. One such user is SP student Qistina Farisha Safrani Mohamed Faizal, who does not keep up with the news every day even though she believes in the importance of keeping abreast of important developments. Similar news reported in TODAY.