According to Alena Macková, a researcher at the Department of Media Studies and Journalism at the MU Faculty of Social Studies and the SYRI National Institute, the trend in avoiding news on social media is related to the polarisation of society and information overload, which many people perceive as a problem and are looking to have more fun on social media.
People are also becoming less involved in content. “We have always seen a gap between the proportion of active creators and passive readers, but today the gap is huge. In our data, we could see this in the example of engagement in online discussions. Between 2020 and 2023, we conducted more than 70 in-depth interviews with active users of online social networks in the Czech Republic, and these show us quite clearly how people’s willingness to engage in discussions gradually declined during the pandemic and later during the war in Ukraine,” says Alena Macková.
The proportion of users not interested in engaging in online discussions increased by more than ten per cent during and after the pandemic. However, Macková emphasises that people still read discussions and form their opinions through social networks.
In terms of different forms of social media, half of the population still uses Facebook, but its importance for news consumption is declining. According to Macková, this is not primarily due to users, but to changes in the social network and the algorithms used to display different types of content. News content has lost its prominent place on Facebook. "Hand in hand with this is the muting of debate and a certain resignation about the role of Facebook (and other networks) in combating disinformation, as well as the shift of news media away from social networks as the main place where people get their news," Macková said.
In addition, Facebook faces strong competition from other networks that rely on video content and young people. Facebook’s users are getting older and more likely to compartmentalise into different interest-based groups rather than follow a general news feed. For news, people prefer to go to X (formerly known as Twitter), although it is used by only a small fraction of the adult Czech population. “It is also a specific cohort of people. This cohort is older, because the network does not attract the youngest users, and its members are interested in public affairs and trust media and political institutions. X has long been a network where people from different organisations, institutions, business people, experts, journalists and, increasingly, politicians meet,” added Macková.
X is different from other social platforms in many ways. Compared to other social media in the Czech Republic, X has long been used by people to get information, news in their field, and national and international news. “Much more often, X users in our survey say that their motivation for using the platform is to keep up to date and know what's going on,” Macková pointed out.
Young people, on the other hand, prefer social media such as TikTok and Instagram, where they go not for news but for entertainment. “If we exclude Telegram, the other social platforms are much more attractive to young people than X and Facebook. They rely more on visual content and videos, they are faster and they keep up with the latest trends. Understandably, young people don't go to social platforms like TikTok or Instagram for news, but for entertainment. But news can reach them there too, not through journalists or media channels, but through influencers and celebrities. Overall, young people seem to access news differently than older generations - much more often through social networks. At the same time, their parents often go directly to popular media sites or use aggregators,” concludes Macková.
Alena Macková focuses on the transformations of political communication and political behaviour in the context of transforming the media environment and practices. She specialises in the communication of political actors in the online environment as well as in citizens’ communication and media practices and their possible impact on people’s attitudes, polarisation and political behaviour.
Alena Macková focuses on the transformations of political communication and political behaviour in the context of transforming the media environment and practices. She specialises in the communication of political actors in the online environment as well as in citizens’ communication and media practices and their possible impact on people’s attitudes, polarisation and political behaviour.