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Journalists are using TikTok to reach a wider audience, find stories and teach media literacy as the platform itself seems to be changing
CNN’s Max Foster started using TikTok to understand what his kids were up to online. He saw straight TikTok, where teenagers do choreographed dances from their parents’ homes. And he saw elite or alt TikTok, where users impersonate vegetables, retail brands and frogs. Mostly, he saw an opportunity for journalists.
“People talk about the trends being dances or music, but actually what I saw was trends in news,” he said.
Foster, a CNN anchor and correspondent based in London, began experimenting and making his own videos seven months ago. His first video, a goofy lip sync to a song about spicy peppermints, has over 183,000 views. In a more recent video, he lists COVID-19 related deaths in countries led by women. It has 2.3 million views.
Max Foster (@maxfostercnn) has created a short video on TikTok with music Ohhhh its low. Compared to US (31k) Spain (19k) Italy (22k) #johnshopkinsuniversity
Now, Foster’s personal account has more than 167,000 followers, nearly five times the number he has on Twitter. All of his content either explains the news or explains how he covers the news, and almost every video has a pop song in the background. TikTok’s “For You” page, where users spend an average of 52 minutes per day discovering new videos, uses an algorithm to recommend silly and serious
Read more here: https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/as-tiktok-grapples-with-weightier-topics-journalists-are-tuning-in-to-deliver-the-news/