It is apparent that zets watch much little tv from older generations – not to mention listening to the radio. But what determines the advantage of fresh media? And is it actual that young people have problems digesting content that lasts more than 30 seconds?
Politicians request the essential tools to effectively practice their profession. Like in democratic countries, where elections are held all fewer years, communicate to the public to vote for themselves? The fact that the media have mastered politics has not been known since yesterday, and the truthfulness of the words "whatever they say – it is crucial that they speak" for political realities has its confirmation in investigation [1]. So what is it? Publicity.
Today, it is not hard to get publicity due to the revolution the alleged fresh media brought to the media market. Politicians seem to realize the strength of social media not only in the electoral period, but besides in the pre-campal period – that's why we can constantly observe the most crucial people in the country on platforms specified as TikTok, with the President, talker of the Sejm and Prime Minister at the head, backing us short films, frequently in a comic context. These forms let them to improve their image (sometimes damaged by decisions without social support) and what is more, to show themselves to users on the rule of "we usage the same applications, so we are like you."
Use social media In the campaign, alongside another crucial factors, specified as the sense of affluence preceded by years spent in street protests, it undoubtedly contributed to evidence attendance among those aged 18-29, of which over 70% gave their vote in the 2023 parliamentary elections [2]. So we have already established that the fresh media has dispelled the conventional ones in the transmission of information to young people. It is apparent that zets watch much little tv from older generations – not to mention listening to the radio. But what determines the advantage of fresh media? And is it actual that young people have problems digesting content that lasts more than 30 seconds?
The specificity of social media consists of respective factors. First of all, availability – in a busy world, where information chases information, in order to be pushed out by another, the velocity of transmission is important. This was confirmed, among another things, in the first phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, erstwhile the materials on TikToku were on the front line in media space, informing the planet about the situation of our east neighbours. In this way, they frequently surpassed – driven by the media of the conventional current – the propaganda of Putin's regime, whose authors needed time to establish narratives in the face of the unexpected ineffectiveness of Russian troops. The communicative of a short “special operation” was rapidly inserted between fairy tales thanks to short videos depicting the unprepared army and its soldiers to blitzkrieg.
Here comes another origin determining the superiority of fresh media over conventional media, and thus the chance to make its own content. Whether we are in a shelter in a war-torn country or in the Warsaw art gallery – we can make relationships with our own lives that possibly find a group of addressees. This is besides supported by the fact that social networks – straight or indirectly – let us to make money through our own business. Algorithms are utilized to personalize feed, i.e. the content displayed to us on the main pages of the applications, which makes access to individual users even easier.
These factors make fresh media usage multifaceted, and the only request before exploiting their possible is to have a smartphone with net access in its pocket. But what about the dimension of the forms?
In the media space, there are opinions that zets have a shorter time to focus attention than those of another generations. Even if it is actual (although doubts arise about the methodology of these analyses), the Ipsos survey shows that most Gen Z uses short video applications only in the first place. little than 60% of them, thanks to cognition gained from tiktoks or reels, it deepens utilizing materials of longer form. Another conclusion from the survey besides contributes to this phenomenon – that is, almost 2⁄3 respondents consider personalized content, related to their interests, to be more crucial than those that break popularity records. Consequently, it is not the duration and the content of the content affects the propriety and the level of concentration among zteks.
Although this survey was conducted among generations It is besides reflected in the Polish market. Formats specified as Channel Zero or "Dude about History", characterized by longer productions, are popular among young people, and the same applies to podcasts, whose episodes usually last for respective decades.
Seeing the popularity of the forms proposed by the fresh media, conventional media follow their lead and decision to the Internet. Shorts, that is, short video forms, are posted on platforms specified as YouTube through news channels known originally from tv – whose output, linear format does not match the expectations of the vast majority of generation Z. As a consequence of this phenomenon a year ago, the head of the National Broadcasting and Broadcasting Council struck an alarm, presenting to Parliament reports on the activities of the body to which he chaired. Maciej Świrski then stated that not watching tv through the zetas threatens to “break up generation bonds”. The fact that the break-up of the generation bond serves evidence advanced time spent in front of the tv by representatives of the oldest generation, the head of KRRiT no longer mentioned.
[1] H. Chmielewska-Szlajfer, (Not) Kidding: Politics in Online Tabloids, Brill, Leiden 2024.
[2] I. Childrenuchovich, “Fresh PESEL” voted. They say that at the urns they “put their leg in the repealed door”, tvn24.pl, https://tvn24.pl/premium/election-parliamentary-2023-as-voted-young-sa-freedom-climate-support-for-person-lgbt-i-no-want-talk-st7399254 [accessed: 9.09.2024].
[3] J. Saint, TikTok talks about the war in Ukraine better than Russian propaganda, ok.press, https://oko.press/tiktok-telling-about-war-in-Ukraine-better-Niz-Russian-propaganda [accessed: 9.09.2024].
[4] YouTube Culture & Trends study 2022.
