The image you uploaded appears to display information about the top news sources among 12-15-year-olds in the UK, focusing on the role of social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube in
📋 Exam Question
Read the material on young people's use of social media below.
Write a text where you reflect on the role of social media as a news provider for young people in the English-speaking world. Use examples from the material below in your answer. You may add other material you find relevant.
Text A
Three phone screens displaying the top 10 news sources among 12-15-year-olds: Instagram, Tiktok and Youtube are the most used sources, while WhatsApp and Twitter are less popular.
- Instagram, TikTok and YouTube teenagers’ top three news sources
Teenagers in the UK are turning away from traditional news channels and are instead looking to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to keep up to date, Ofcom* has found.
Ofcom’s News consumption in the UK 2021/22 report shows that, for the first time, Instagram is the most popular news source among teenagers used by nearly three in ten in 2022 (29%). TikTok and YouTube follow closely behind, used by 28% of youngsters to follow news.
BBC One and BBC Two – historically the most popular news sources among teens – have been knocked off top spot down to fifth place. Around a quarter of teens (24%) use these channels for news in 2022, compared to nearly half (45%) just five years ago.
Among teens, half of YouTube and Twitter users think they provide trustworthy news stories (51% and 52% respectively). Despite its popularity for news, fewer than a third of youngsters (30%) trust TikTok’s news content.
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- *Ofcom is the UK's official communications regulator.
- Excerpts, adapted for this exam by Udir
Text B
Social media is the most commonly used news source among U.S. respondents that consume the news daily, according to a poll by Morning Consult. This was followed by network news (26 percent), cable news networks (21 percent) and radio (20 percent).
[...] According to Morning Consult’s data, older adults were more likely to opt for traditional media such as cable news networks (32 percent for 65+, 24 percent for 45-64-year-olds, 18 percent for 35-44-year-olds, 12 percent for 18-34-year-olds) and newspapers (21 percent of 65+, versus 9-10 percent in the other age groups), while younger audiences were most drawn to social media platforms (45 percent for 18-34-year-olds, 44 percent 35-44-year-olds, 33 percent 45-64-year-olds, 24 percent 65+).
- Excerpts, adapted for this exam by Udir
- References
Text A: Ofcom (2022). Instagram, TikTok and YouTube teenagers’ top three news sources. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2022/instagram,-tiktok-and-youtube-teenagers-top-three-news-sources
Text B: Fleck, A. (2023, 16 February). Americans Turn To Social Media For News, Despite Lower Trust. Statista. https://www.statista.com/chart/29327/share-of-people-that-use--and-trust-different-news-sources/
✏️ Model Answer
The image you uploaded appears to display information about the top news sources among 12-15-year-olds in the UK, focusing on the role of social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube in delivering news to young people. This connects directly to the material provided in Text A about the growing preference for social media over traditional news outlets.
Here's an analysis of how the image ties into the broader discussion on social media as a news provider for young people: …