{"id":650640,"date":"2025-12-11T00:27:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T05:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/?p=650640"},"modified":"2025-12-10T22:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T03:16:14","slug":"tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"TikTok replaces legacy news outlets for young adults."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Research shows that the way young adults (ages 18 to 29) consume the news is changing rapidly.<\/p>\n<p>First, begin with this finding.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/data-labs\/2024\/10\/08\/who-u-s-adults-follow-on-tiktok\/\">Pew Research shows<\/a> that just 15 percent of young adults follow the news \u201call or most of the time,\u201d compared with 62 percent of those who are 65 and older.\u00a0 Additionally, these young adults are more likely to seek out entertainment news and less likely than older Americans to get news about government, politics, science and technology, and business and finance.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/data-labs\/2024\/10\/08\/who-u-s-adults-follow-on-tiktok\/\">research also shows<\/a> that young adults who do follow the news continue to shift away from legacy media and instead embrace social media for their information.\u00a0 Three-fourths of adults under 30 are more likely to get their news on social media platforms.\u00a0 And TikTok is the most popular site, with about two billion users worldwide every month.<\/p>\n<p>TikTok and other social media platforms are home to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/10\/08\/tiktok-content-creators-news\">influencers,<\/a> individuals with significant followings who post ideas, observations, and pitch products.\u00a0 One 21-year-old told Pew researchers, \u201cIf I agree with that person already, if I already have background with that person, then I\u2019ll probably trust him more than some news site.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition, TikTok <a href=\"https:\/\/sproutsocial.com\/insights\/social-media-algorithms\/\">algorithms<\/a> analyze what a user likes and then adjust the feeds accordingly.\u00a0 If you like short videos on a specific health topic, then you will get more of them.\u00a0 The \u201cnews\u201d then becomes a personalized experience.<\/p>\n<p>One could argue that personally customized information is helpful because it tailors the experience to individuals\u2019 wants and needs.\u00a0 However, there are downsides.<\/p>\n<p>It constricts the users to information silos and echo chambers.\u00a0 The individual receives content that reinforces what they already believe, even if that information is false or misleading.\u00a0 That reduces the opportunity for users to be exposed to contrary views that may broaden their understanding of an issue.<\/p>\n<p>TikTok has<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/community-guidelines\/en\"> guidelines in place<\/a> to try to reduce distortions and deceptions.\u00a0 Its rules prohibit misinformation and deceptive behavior, and it requires \u201cclear labeling when AI or editing is used to depict people or scenes.\u201d\u00a0 But with an <a href=\"https:\/\/sidesmedia.com\/average-amount-of-followers-on-tiktok\/\">estimated two billion users<\/a> worldwide and between one and two million creators, it is nearly impossible to effectively monitor all the content. \u00a0That leaves users with the challenge of trying to sort out the content for accurate information.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a <a href=\"https:\/\/biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu\/news\/health-information-tiktok\">study by the University of Chicago<\/a> on health posts on TikTok concluded, \u201cThere is high-quality and factual information out there on social platforms such as TikTok, but it may be difficult to distinguish this from information disseminated by influencers that can actually be harmful,\u201d said the study\u2019s senior author, Dr. Christopher Roxbury.<\/p>\n<p>Another problem is that the rapidly increasing sophistication of AI is making it harder to detect <a href=\"https:\/\/sidesmedia.com\/average-amount-of-followers-on-tiktok\/\">deep fakes.<\/a> <em>NPR<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/07\/10\/nx-s1-5461427\/tiktok-creators-copy-ai-fakes\">reported last July<\/a>, \u201cMillions of TikTokkers have watched some version of a video in the past week that falsely stated that \u2018they\u2019re installing incinerators at Alligator Alcatraz.\u201d\u00a0 One of the videos attracted 20 million views. \u00a0An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/fact-check-video-atlanta-lady-014733419.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com&amp;guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jaGF0Z3B0LmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAE5unETpf9FjZYXZsOzaPuhse2tsQQFHm8aiQxIgJiF7abE3Kqa4PbqsQ2BXSATUnjFN4YrnvpS7L8kJVhzNkbhfn5b3OIaTpNQsAfDiGweWm1f8vkKcG5gXd3f3oBhPcWW-cg3j5eCW43W1QOkvYYgqDi4jAeEr_rBu12DWiu_n\">AI generated fake video<\/a> of a woman telling a reporter she sold her food stamps for cash spread widely on other social media platforms.<\/p>\n<p>What all this means is that it is increasingly difficult for individuals, especially young adults who get their news on TikTok and other social media platforms, to be well-informed and armed with fact-based information.\u00a0 It fuels the concern that we are descending into a post-truth era of agenda-driven influencers, disinformation and deep-fake creators.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps TikTok and other social media platforms will get better at preventing misinformation from being widely distributed, but with each improvement comes more creative ways that content creators can sidestep the guardrails. Meanwhile, information consumers, especially young people who are the next generation of decision-makers on everything from health to public policy, face the increasing challenge of separating fact from fiction.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research shows that the way young adults (ages 18 to 29) consume the news is changing rapidly. First, begin with this finding.\u00a0 Pew Research shows that just 15 percent of young adults follow the news \u201call or most of the time,\u201d compared with 62 percent of those who are 65 and older.\u00a0 Additionally, these young<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-650640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-hoppys-commentary"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>TikTok replaces legacy news outlets for young adults. - WV MetroNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TikTok replaces legacy news outlets for young adults. - WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Research shows that the way young adults (ages 18 to 29) consume the news is changing rapidly. First, begin with this finding.\u00a0 Pew Research shows that just 15 percent of young adults follow the news \u201call or most of the time,\u201d compared with 62 percent of those who are 65 and older.\u00a0 Additionally, these young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T05:27:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-11T03:16:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/metronews-plug.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"885\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"485\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hoppy Kercheval\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HoppyKercheval\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hoppy Kercheval\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/\",\"name\":\"TikTok replaces legacy news outlets for young adults. - WV MetroNews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T05:27:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-11T03:16:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#\/schema\/person\/0f76ac4b8d0eeb096fb72cdf9f53a3c4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TikTok replaces legacy news outlets for young adults.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/\",\"name\":\"WV MetroNews\",\"description\":\"The Voice of West Virginia\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#\/schema\/person\/0f76ac4b8d0eeb096fb72cdf9f53a3c4\",\"name\":\"Hoppy Kercheval\",\"description\":\"The radio \u201cdean\u201d of West Virginia broadcasters, Hoppy Kercheval joined West Virginia Radio Corporation in 1976.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/@HoppyKercheval\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/author\/hkercheval\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TikTok replaces legacy news outlets for young adults. - WV MetroNews","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2025\/12\/11\/tiktok-replaces-legacy-news-outlets-for-young-adults\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TikTok replaces legacy news outlets for young adults. - WV MetroNews","og_description":"Research shows that the way young adults (ages 18 to 29) consume the news is changing rapidly. 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