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Day of the Newsfluencer – threat or opportunity?

Are influencers set to replace journalists? Not if we have any say in the matter they’re not.

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It was back in 2023 that a Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism report quizzed 94,000 people across 46 countries and found that 55% of TikTok and Snapchat users and 52% of Instagram users get their news from “personalities” — compared to 33-42% who get it from mainstream media. Simply put, influencers now ranked higher for news, especially amongst the young, than traditional journalism.  At the same time in France, INA was explaining why PR was starting to value influencers over journalists.  More than even the shift to digital, the rise of influencer was seen as a threat to journalism, as well as to the marketing money that publications depended on. 

Many of us with a background in traditional journalism were (and are still) appalled. But it’s a shift that has only built momentum since then.

Last November the Pew Institute in the USA decided to put some numbers to the phenomenon by looking at 28,000 social media accounts, and 500 popular news influencers.

Pew found that nearly 4 out of 10 of the under 30s turned to influencers for their news.

Europe isn’t the US, of course, and a Press Gazette survey in US, UK, and France last year found that US respondents were far more likely to name alternative news sources than their European counterparts. 

US respondents named non mainstream sources in the majority, the UK was the other way around, and France was close to 50:50.  It should be noted that it’s a small sample, but it hints at how pervasive news from non-journalistic sources has become.

In case you’re wondering, these were the most mentioned accounts in France.

Now we know what you’re thinking. Because we’ve thought the same. We’ve already howled about the lack of credentials, absence of fact-checking, and the bias towards male opinionators (Pew found them to be 63% male), and the right wing. Repeating the mantra that ‘influencers aren’t journalists’ is absolutely right, needs to be pointed out, and may provide some solace, but it won’t counter the impact of influencers on new consumption. So what will?

One common response is to take the moral high ground and focus on quality. After all, it’s what we do best.

Plus there is a chance that the ‘race to the bottom’ of poor quality content will help it destroy itself. AI ‘slop’ flooding the web means that LLMs are now learning from other AI generated content, and getting less human in the process, so a real voice should stand out more. Likewise the argument goes that a growing number of would-be influencers jostling to get heard will lead to a torrent of poor quality content that audiences learn to avoid.

Last year’s report into the role of premium press by Les Echos, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, and M Publicité certainly suggested that the credibility of premium press bodes well for its influence and thus its future.

But hold on a second. Being the best we can be is essential, yes, but it is not the whole story. News publishers also have to get that message across by convincing audiences that we are the trustworthy and quality option. The catch is that the audience we seek is not the one already looking to Le Figaro for news. It’s the one that is avoiding traditional news. To do that we need to learn more about why influencers are so popular, and whether some of that approach can be applied to our own content.

The reason cited for the popularity of influencers, over and over, is that they appear closer to their audiences. They are almost like friends, they are often informal ( leading US news podcaster, Joe Rogan, famously smokes marijuana with guests during his recordings), and they are trusted. The marketing world tells us that  70% of consumers trust influencers even when they know the influencer’s role involves selling them something

One approach is to hire influencers into mainstream media, for example YouTuber Gaspard G being given a daily slot on France Inter. Nice-Matin has tested that approach with its local ambassadors but the test seems hesitant and couched within the framework of the paper’s website, rather than set free to roam Instagram and YouTube.

The other is to look at how journalists can take on the style of influencers, while still working within a journalistic code of ethics. That doesn’t have to mean journalists masquerading as influencers, let alone becoming them, but more along the lines of opinion piece writers taking to TikTok.

Not all journalists could, or should do so of course, but there are outstanding examples of ex journalists becoming ‘newsfluencers’ (‘jinfluenceurs’ in French). James O’Brian is a prime example in the UK. Ouest France’s Kolok on YouTube is a fascinating example where young journalists are given the chance to find new audiences in influencer style.

Yes, we have to stay true to quality journalism, but we also have to reach out to audiences to let them know why that matters. Jinfluenceurs may just be the way.


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