TikTok is rapidly becoming a hotspot for news consumption. Recent studies show that TikTok keeps expanding among audiences, with young and older generations increasingly using the short-video...Show moreTikTok is rapidly becoming a hotspot for news consumption. Recent studies show that TikTok keeps expanding among audiences, with young and older generations increasingly using the short-video sharing platform to acquire their news. This phenomenon has not gone unnoticed by journalists and those in the news industry. Like their peers worldwide, Dutch media has embraced TikTok as an addition to their online presence over the last few years. Yet how successful these efforts have been remains unclear. Thus, this paper aims to explore how the content and topic of news-based TikTok posts impact audience engagement on the platform. To achieve this, I gathered and analysed 75 TikTok posts from two Dutch media organisations: RTL Nieuws and NOS Stories. Drawing from statistical tests, I aimed to find correlations between a post’s content elements, topic and descriptive information regarding audience engagement, such as likes, comments, shares, and more. The results of this study indicate that neither content nor topics are predictors of audience engagement for these two Dutch media organisations on TikTok. Additionally, the results show that the Dutch media does not make its content “TikTok-ready,” as they scarcely (possibly unintentionally) utilise any of the elements required to become trending on the platform. Nonetheless, these observations carry important implications concerning TikTok’s role in news content distribution and audience engagement.Show less
This paper aims to uncover how the same news content differs between TV broadcasts and TikTok. The rise of social media has greatly impacted the who’s, how’s, and what’s of news consumption. TikTok...Show moreThis paper aims to uncover how the same news content differs between TV broadcasts and TikTok. The rise of social media has greatly impacted the who’s, how’s, and what’s of news consumption. TikTok targets a younger audience, requires shorter and snappier content, and necessitates newsrooms to make content more engaging. They cannot simply copy and paste the content they create for classic media onto TikTok, but they need to remediate this content, so it is more in line with social media logics. Through a comparative content analysis of the TV items and TikTok videos of the Dutch news outlets NOS and Hart van Nederland, this study sheds light on if, and if so, how, news outlets remediate their content to align with the logic of TikTok. By focussing on the use of sources and how this might differ between the two platforms, the study provides insights into what steps newsrooms take to fit in on social media. Our results show that there are significant differences between the use of sources in TV and TikTok items; TV uses more and especially elite sources while TikTok uses less sources and has more people under 18 as a source. And thus we argue that newsrooms make deliberate and informed changes to their content so it is more in line with the platform on which it is published.Show less
Executive master thesis | International Relations and Diplomacy (MSc)
open access
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is certainly not the first instance in which humor emerged as a by-product of political turmoil. In times of extreme societal change, people must adapt physically and...Show moreRussia’s invasion of Ukraine is certainly not the first instance in which humor emerged as a by-product of political turmoil. In times of extreme societal change, people must adapt physically and mentally to survive. Yet, because these adjustments are not immediate, one reaction that can help people acclimate to new circumstances is humor. In answering the research question “What were the functions of digital Ukrainian humor in the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine?”, this thesis finds that coping, cohesion, and criticism have emerged in as humor’s primary uses. Specifically, humor functions to create a buffer between old and new realities, define in- and out-groups, and form a medium for commentary. Yet, beyond this, through thematic discourse analysis, the thesis at hand also identifies the sub-categories of humor functions which help explain the means through which humor can meet the stress-relieving, superiority-affirming, or incongruity-resolving needs of groups and individuals in political turmoil. In turn, the thesis reaffirms that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be labeled a ‘TikTok War’, as the social media became the primary platform for the sharing of Ukrainian humor. In studying visual data, the research contributes to spotlighting the integral role of images as tools of political influence in the digital age and as artifacts the study of which enhances scholars’ holistic understanding of the ramifications of Russia’s invasion. With these findings, humor can be appreciated as a highly nuanced and conscious part of Ukrainian resistance and social resilience.Show less
