Short-Form News: How TikTok and Instagram Are Changing News Delivery

In today’s fast-paced world, it is evident that audiences’ interests have shifted from long-form content towards short-form news in shorter pieces, typically 30 to 60 seconds. This drastic shift in content consumption has started with the popularity of social media and newly emerging trends. It is we, the average users, who prefer to watch that content and contribute to its emerging popularity. 

Have you ever wondered? Why are we more drawn towards this type of content?

The answer is simple yet interesting. As the time changes, over the centuries, generations change, technologies change, societies change, and so do our behaviours. People are now more concerned about their time; they expect everything to be done as quickly as possible. They even want their content to be short and precise to save time, as well as get the information in a few seconds or minutes. 

Another reason could be the newness; the audience’s desire to consume innovative or unique content from time to time has led to the rise of new entertainment forms. 

Social Media Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts are supporting this culture by providing a medium to showcase and consume such content. It is not just about entertainment but also education and information. The news industry has also adopted this short-form content to deliver news content in quick and easily digestible formats. 

Through this blog, we will discuss the rise of short-form news through various social media platforms. 

The Rise of Short-Form News on Social Media

Social Media is a revolutionary tool in today’s time, as it is creating a buzz around the world by becoming a powerful platform for people to express their thoughts and opinions. It has surely shaped the way of content consumption into a new format. Traditional ways of news consumption, where 30 to 40 minutes of news is delivered, have turned into 30 to 40 seconds of news bytes. The audience’s requirements have drastically changed, and they now need highly engaging and concise content. 

But why is this kind of short-form news content rising on social media? There are several reasons for this question, and some are just based on studies of human behaviour. Let’s take a look at these reasons that we researched. 

1. Studies Highlight Several Reasons for the Rise of Short-form News Content

Shrinking Attention Span

As we review newly conducted studies, they suggest that there has been a significant decline in the average person’s attention span over the last 20 years. Studies show that it has dropped to 8 seconds, now averaging to just 47 seconds on any screen. This is happening because of the constant streaming of digital content, information overload, and diverse content availability. People tend to lose interest in a video if it’s longer than 60 seconds. 

Quick Updating

People need answers, suggestions, hacks, or tips in an instant. Even, they prefer quick laughs and entertainment. Short-form content caters to fulfill these desires of the audience for immediate satisfaction without requiring a significant amount of time and commitment. If we take a real-life example, a person who has time limitations due to work or other activities and still wants to stay updated with the latest news or trends. This short-form news content is a saviour for such people to stay informed without investing too much time. 

Platform Algorithms 

Social Media platforms prioritize short, trendy content with more views and likes, and keep on refreshing your feeds with such kind of short videos. TikTok, Instagram reels commonly work on these algorithms and show you the content that you are interested in. These platforms ensure the display of content with high rates of interaction in your feeds. 

Easy Sharing of Content

Short clips or videos are easy to share and more engaging as compared to large videos. The visual appeal and catchy taglines make the content clickable. If the audience finds a particular video relatable or interesting, they surely like to share it with their friends or family. 

2. Why Younger Audiences Prefer Reels & TikToks Over Newspapers? 

Younger audiences are increasingly drawn towards TikTok or Instagram reels rather than reading newspapers. This is because of the shift in how they prefer to consume information and their preference for instant gratification and engaging content. They are more technology-driven and curious to get instant summaries and answers to any problem. 

Several factors affect their preferences, such as: 

• They are more likely to prefer a two-way communication, and through these platforms, they can directly connect with the person or organization that published the content.
•  A sense of community and connection forms through the influencers and whatever content they deliver is deliberately holding responsibility to form opinions and change of thoughts. 
• To keep the users engaged with the content, social media platforms allow them to get personalized content. For example, if a student is interested in sports and constantly watches news content related to sports. The algorithms work in such a way that they align with their interests and show them all relatable content on their feeds.

• The shift in preferences among younger audiences has reflected a broader change in how people consume media today. Several news publishers have already drifted towards creating short-form news content formats. For example, the BBC or the Washington Post have seen to be appeared on YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, delivering the latest and trending news content in short and easy-to-digest videos.

TikTok as a News Platform

‘ TikTok is not just an entertainment platform, but has also risen as a news and information hub.’ 

To support this statement, we will give you two real-life examples: 

• During the time of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, TikTok became a platform that showcased real and raw footage of the incidents that were actually happening, and people were constantly uploading videos of their experiences. 
• TikTok is also used to spread awareness about global environmental issues, such as climate change, global warming, and the increasing water levels of the oceans. 

It is simply understandable that due to the access to the internet, people can connect through these social media platforms. During the time of any incident, political conflict, protest, social issue, or any climatic disaster, people on the ground can easily record the raw footage or images that can reach globally within seconds. 

Potential Risks and Challenges 

Millions of people are using TikTok today, and thousands among them are actively uploading content daily. But not everything you see or hear on social media is true!

There could be people spreading misinformation or misleading their viewers with wrong, manipulative content. 

There can be credibility issues since anyone can upload unverified content, making it difficult to distinguish between credible journalism and rumours or misinformation. Such issues can undermine trust in TikTok as a reliable news source. 

Instagram Reels and Stories in News Distribution

Instagram has transformed the way of storytelling and news distribution. By shifting its focus from a simple photo-sharing platform to a hub of visually-driven and engaging content. Newsrooms have also created a shift in presenting news. This shift is not just with traditional media like television, but also stepping into the field of social media. They are converting headlines into short, engaging reels with text overlays, graphics, and voiceovers.

• Sharing live updates through Instagram stories and posting updates on feeds. For example, during Indian elections, media houses posted reels with key updates and used stories for continuous live reporting.
• Reels outperform better than any other static post on Instagram because it is basically a short-form news created in such a way that the visuals, voiceovers, and voiceover script become attractive to seek the attention of users.
• Reels are even prioritized on the Explore Page, giving them visibility beyond a publisher’s followers. Hashtags and engaging taglines or cover template images are also created to catch a user’s attention. 

Today, millions of users are connected to Instagram and consume all the information provided on it. Most of these users are younger generations who believe what the internet shows them or portrays. Recent studies have found that children, teenagers, and young adults rely on Social Media and AI chatbots for seeking any kind of new information or solutions. 

Therefore, Short-form news on Instagram is a unique and outperforming method of news distribution. 

Impact of Short-Form News on Journalism

Journalism is a field of gathering and analyzing the incidents related to any topic happening around the world, and creating & presenting that information in the form of news to the audience. The core purpose of journalism is to provide people with factual information in a way that makes the news understandable and presentable.  

If we talk about the content, the traditional methods are based on long-form content, in-depth reporting. Whereas the short-form news focuses on concise, fast, and visually engaging formats. There has been a significant shift in how news is consumed, highlighting the rise of short-form video as a powerful medium in the news industry.

Short-form News Shaping Public Opinion & Awareness

There’s a reason that short-form news content has become a popular medium to connect with people online. The short-form content is responsible for setting narratives quickly and spreading thoughts quickly, as it influences public opinions.

With more emotion-driven content and immediacy, short content fits into the browsing habits of people these days. Moreover, people are more interested in watching a 30 or 60 seconds short video rather than reading a 2000-word-long news article. 

Short-form news content often relies on visuals, music, or catchy taglines that evoke strong emotions, making people more likely to be drawn towards it and form opinions quickly. 

Role of APIs in Powering Short-Form News Delivery

News APIs are a revolutionary tool for the news industry as they provide thousands of news articles in real-time from renowned news sources around the world. For delivering breaking news the speed and accuracy matter a lot for any news providing service or platform.

The stories get viral on such platforms as soon as they are published in real-time. Short form news works because it meets people where they are: in line at the store, between meetings, on the couch at night, in 45-second pockets of downtime.

Publishers and News Influencers who are constantly updating us with the latest news also fetch this data from various news sources. News APIs can be a go-to tool for them to extract the latest news information in real-time. Organizations and businesses can leverage real-time news data for their brand monitoring, market analysis, and competitive advantage. 

How NewsData.io Helps Publishers & Apps

NewsData.io is one of the best and trusted news API platforms you will ever interact with. It provides you with the latest news articles from 84000+ news sources in almost 80+ languages. It integrates news content from thousands of trusted sources, overcoming linguistic barriers. 

NewsData.io is providing regional as well as global coverage of news articles. It covers local and international events, making it ideal for apps that cater to global audiences. 

Case Example 

NewsData.io can be a powerful integration tool for apps to generate reels based on trending topics. The app can integrate NewsData.io’s API to track real-time trending news. 

Your app’s system can automatically convert these into reels with headline text overlays and create stories for other updates. The created output can then be posted directly on Instagram or TikTok. 

Conclusion

The profound shift in the preferences of the audience from traditional media to short-form news on platforms like TikTok and Instagram is creating new ways of news consumption. With long articles and in-depth reporting, traditional news has also transformed into bite-sized news information that is easy to digest.

Newsrooms have adopted several methods by experimenting with creative storytelling, leveraging News APIs for real-time content, and producing multilingual updates to change the way of news telling.

Today, we are living in a social-first world with short-form content. And this isn’t going away because it is a shift in how we create, communicate, and interact with the world around us. We are building a community that thrives on growth and knowledge more than ever.

Artificial intelligence is also playing a vital role in this growing industry. AI tools can now generate entire clips with content from a few text prompts and can give you ready-made content to publish. The methods or medium of content consumption might change, but the grasp of that knowledge will always remain the same.