Kenyans Among World Leaders In TikTok News Use- Study
Kenyans are among the world’s leading users of TikTok, a new study says.
In the Reuters Institute Digital News Reports 2023 survey, researchers found that 29% of the Kenyans asked had used TikTok for news in the past week. Overall, 54% of Kenyans used the social media app.
Among the countries surveyed, Thailand was the second country with the highest adoption rate at 51%, followed by South Africa at 50%. TikTok is growing fastest in parts of Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America.
The report noted that the last year’s election period coincided with a rapid growth of Kenyans using TikTok for news.
According to the non-profit Mozilla foundation, TikTok became the platform where fake polls and videos were disseminated and it faced criticism for spreading misinformation.
While Facebook remains one of the most-used social networks, the report notes that usage is declining.
Instagram, TikTok and Telegram are the only networks to have grown in the last year.
Additionally, people said they pay more attention to celebrities, influencers and social media personalities as opposed to journalists.
The study is an annual report that aims to understand how news is being consumed in a range of countries, and included samples from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
Source: BBC
