This article-based dissertation examines how trust-building, social media identities, and the enhancement of multiliteracies can transform traditional journalistic roles within social media. It focuses on the competitive dynamics between journalists and influencers in information dissemination among young audiences, emphasizing the need to explore content creators from a journalistic perspective.
The study aims to establish modern definitions for journalists as content creators in social media and to identify trust-building methods suitable for social media journalism. The research explores how young followers identify journalistic content on social media and how multiliteracy skills can be developed and integrated into the journalistic process. It addresses the challenge traditional media faces in engaging young audiences who prefer social media platforms for news.
The dissertation comprises three sub-studies. The first investigates trust-building in influencer-style journalism through a systematic literature review based on database searches. The second examines followers’ ability to recognize journalistic actors on social media through a case study and semi-structured interviews with young adults. The third focuses on how journalists as content creators can enhance followers’ multiliteracies, involving a literature review and semi-structured interviews. Data collection for sub-studies 2 and 3 employs the approach of digital ethnography.
Adapting methods from the modern media landscape into journalism needs to be explored to maintain agility in reaching diverse audiences. Identifying ways to incorporate media literacy elements into social media journalism is crucial for enhancing societal understanding. Exploring the roles of journalists in social media will provide invaluable insights for understanding the ever-changing media landscape, particularly social media journalism and the ‘creator economy’.