Is this the first post-mainstream-media election? The Guardian asked six volunteers to record their phone screens for three days – and the results provide a glimpse of what news, if any, the British public is consuming as they go to the polls.
Zoya, 28, a British-Pakistani woman in Birmingham, used to be a loyal Labour voter who knew nothing about Palestine. After watching TikTok videos and AI-generated Instagram posts, she is now a Green supporter who feels Gaza is her top issue.
Stacey, 36, who lives in the Clacton constituency where Nigel Farage is standing for election, rarely engages with mainstream news outlets, but may vote Labour for the first time after the party paid to push adverts into her Facebook feed.
Finley, 19, a student in Buckinghamshire, has almost zero connection with mainstream news and forms his political opinions by reading the angry comments left below Instagram videos.
Working with the research agency Revealing Reality, the Guardian was allowed to monitor the phone activity of these and three other volunteers and interviewed them about their media consumption.
Although the sample is just a snapshot, several trends were clear: voters are seeing less political content on their social media feeds, traditional news outlets are less prominent in their lives, and influencers have an ever greater role in shaping political opinions.
Most notably, compared with elections that took place in the 2010s, people are less willing to share their political views on social media. Conversations about politics are instead taking place in private chat groups on Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Damon De Ionno, of Revealing Reality, who ran the research programme, said this reflected rapid changes in online behaviour since the last general election. “Social media went through a period where it was fun to put stuff out there and it was a lighthearted playground. People are now just much more wary about putting views out there, or stories about themselves.”
There is a generational divide. Older voters are still seeking out mainstream broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV and viewing it as a civic duty to be aware of the broad national news agenda.
From the research group, Peter, 60, in Wigan, has stuck to his habit of watching a news bulletin every evening. Ava, 67, in Lowestoft, chose to block Facebook friends who posted about politics in the wake of the 2019 election.
Peter, 45, an SNP supporter in Dundee, spends five hours a day scrolling through Facebook and views the BBC with suspicion, but still relies on the broadcaster for an overview of what is going on while picking up headlines from Radio 2.
The younger participants tended to have some trust in the BBC, but they didn’t feel the same deep connection to it – and didn’t feel the need to be across the broader Westminster-centric news agenda. Instead, they cared deeply about certain key issues that they deemed directly relevant to their lives, such as the war in Gaza, gender issues…
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