MAKING MEDIA MATTER TO GEN Z

By

Megan McGaha

A Senior Project Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Science in Graphic Information Technology

Arizona State University

Online Campus

1

ABSTRACT

ContentsINTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................1

Need for the Project................................................................................................................................1

Significance of the Project.......................................................................................................................1

Statement of the Problem.......................................................................................................................1

Limitations of the Study...........................................................................................................................2

Definition of Terms..................................................................................................................................4

REVIEW OF LITERATURE..............................................................................................................................5

New Media Formats................................................................................................................................5

METHODOLOGY.........................................................................................................................................13

Sampling Techniques.............................................................................................................................13

Survey Instrument.................................................................................................................................13

Data Collection......................................................................................................................................13

RESULTS OF THE PROJECT.........................................................................................................................14

Response Rate of Survey.......................................................................................................................14

Question Summaries.............................................................................................................................14

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................22

Summary...............................................................................................................................................22

Conclusions............................................................................................................................................22

Recommendations.................................................................................................................................22

REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................22

APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................................24

Survey Invitation....................................................................................................................................24

Survey....................................................................................................................................................24

INTRODUCTION

Need for the ProjectAs web browsing became popular and accessible to an increasing majority of the United States,

and social media emerged, it seemed to be the end of the print industry. Some misinterpreted this to mean

the fall of the news industry as well, but a society with a population of over 7 billion demands some sort

of consistent mass communication. Thus, the news industry has not died, and, in fact, is transforming.

Unfortunately, the recession lead to a lot of layoffs, and talent was lost. Not to mention,

newspapers are struggling to maintain both the old way of doing news, AND newer ways. Reporters are

expected to write their articles for print and web, while taking photos and sharing the story to social

media, both because there are more diverse demands from the population (social media) and fewer people

to fulfil them, as photojournalists and other assisting staff were laid off during the recession.

This project aims to cut through the clutter and determine what media formats are favored and

will be read by millennials and their younger counterpart, Generation Z.

Significance of the ProjectTraditional news organizations may argue that audience-first news is not ethical news, but they

have to realize that pursuing news without an audience is simply a waste of resources. There has to be a

balance, and too often, reputable news organizations are lagging behind newer, more-fun sites like

Buzzfeed and Elite Daily. If longstanding news organizations could keep up with these content machines,

they would have a better chance at being not only read, but interpreted and impactful on local, national,

and global communities.

Statement of the ProblemAs the millennial generation recedes into midlife and parenthood, Generation Z emerges into the

workforce, and voting booths. Their attitudes and values will soon shape the world, and with some

members of this generation still toddling and learning their ABC’s, many remain blank canvasses who

have yet to be shaped by the media landscape.

Alarmingly, those older ones who’ve already been exposed to mainstream media have harmfully

internalized some elements of the 2016 election. Fake news. Alternative facts. When honors students

cannot determine fact from fiction, it's difficult for them to relate to the community around them, which is

dangerous because a generation that doesn't care is one that will not be able to assist their neighbors.

This project seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What formats of new media appeal to Generation Z? Is interactive all it’s cracked up to be?

2. Where do members of Generation Z get their news?

3. What is their thought process in separating fact from fiction?

4. Where do users look for verification or other information on media sites?

5. How can we improve new media to help citizens discern between fact and fiction?

Limitations of the StudyThere are a plethora of limitations to this study, starting with the fact that members of Generation

Z are still being born, many are too young to communicate with, and almost all were not accessible for

this project as Arizona State University has a policy against directly interviewing minors. That leaves the

18-early 20’s crowd, which was still somewhat accessible by surveying community college students.

Another limitation of the study is that age groups like “Millennial” and “Generation Z” have not

been specifically defined. Some say that “Generation Z” starts in 1995, others, 1998, still others, 2000.

The ending birth year has also not yet been determined.

Another issue is accessibility to respondents. Because “Generation Z” is so young, most are still

minors, who cannot be surveyed for the Senior Project as per Arizona State University regulations. Which

means there is an even smaller margin of students to pull responses from. This will be remedied by

polling mainly community college students, because community college students are, generally, in their

first two years out of high school. But, as always, there are the occasional mid-life adults who also attend

community colleges and made their way into the survey.

The limited accessibility made for a difficult time getting statistically significant data as well, and

even if it were significant, the skew toward the older part of the generation and the skew toward only

community college students cannot really be remedied. In order for the data to at least be statistically

significant at even the 90% confidence interval, using a population of 69 million (which, according to the

Pew Research Center, represents the number of births from 1998 to 2014), one would have to survey 138

respondents in order to have data with a 7% margin of error, as calculated by SurveyMonkey.

By the end of the project, there were only 50 respondents who could be classified as members of

“Generation Z”.

Definition of TermsAudience First: A content marketing strategy in which the preference of the audience is considered

above all else. For our purposes, it applies to the content that news organizations choose to prioritize and

publish.

“Generation Z”: “(also known as the iGeneration or Post-Millennials) is the demographic cohort after

the Millennials. There are no precise dates for when Generation Z starts or ends; demographers and

researchers typically use the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s as starting birth years, and as of yet there is little

consensus regarding ending birth years.”

“A significant aspect of this generation is the widespread usage of the Internet from a young age;

members of Generation Z are typically thought of as being comfortable with technology, and interacting

on social media websites for a significant portion of their socializing. Some commentators have suggested

that growing up through the Great Recession has given the cohort a feeling of unsettlement and

insecurity.” (Wikipedia)

Great Recession: “The financial crisis of 2007–2008, also known as the global financial crisis and the

2008 financial crisis, is considered by many economists to have been the worst financial crisis since the

Great Depression of the 1930s.” (Wikipedia)

“Millennial”: “a person born in the 1980s or 1990s —usually plural” (Merriam Webster).

Clickbait: “something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink

especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest” (Merriam Webster)

Click-Through-Rate (CTR): “the percentage of people visiting a web page who access a hypertext link

to a particular advertisement.” (Google Dictionary)

Confidence Level: “the probability that the value of a parameter falls within a specified range of values.”

(Google Dictionary)

Statistical Significance: “the extent to which a result deviates from that expected to arise simply from

random variation or errors in sampling.” (Google Dictionary)

Margin of Error: “an amount (usually small) that is allowed for in case of miscalculation or change of

circumstances.” (Google Dictionary)

(Internet) Troll: “to antagonize (others) online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or

offensive comments or other disruptive content” (Merriam Webster)

Pew Research Center: “a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides

information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the

world.[2] It also conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis, and

other empirical social science research. The Pew Research Center does not take explicit policy positions,

and is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.” (Wikipedia)

Stanford Study: A study conducted by Stanford University researchers at the Stanford Graduate School

of Education in which students of various grade levels including college were asked questions to

determine how they verify that what they’re reading online is true. The study found “dismaying evidence”

that today’s students are not up to the task.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

New Media FormatsAccording to an article by the Pew Research Center, two

thirds of Americans get their news from social media, and two

tenths do it often. As their report goes more in depth, it is revealed

that despite Facebook remaining the most highly trafficked social

media news outlet, “Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat have grown in

share of users who get news on each site.” The chart to the left

depicts this change, with Twitter up 15%, YouTube up 11%, and

Snapchat up 12%. While several other social media sites like

Facebook and Reddit showed little to no significant change, those

two were still considered the heavy lifters in social media news.

The following graphic showed that the majority of adults who get news from social media, get it

on Facebook. Of the 66% of adults using the site, 45%

use it for news. But YouTube is catching up, not only by

being up 11% from last year in usage for news, as in the

first chart, but YouTube also has 58% of adult users, 18%

of which are now using YouTube for news.

One noteworthy find of this report is that the college educated have actually started to use social

media less for news than in previous years, whereas social media for news increases among the less

educated. As “Generation Z” matures and attends or finishes college, this may be a trend to watch for.

However, it’s also important to note that while this survey is up to date as of September 5th, 2017,

the election was last year, which would have driven traffic on all news platforms up to unusual heights.

An interesting finding in the above chart is the exploding use of Snapchat for news among 18-29

year olds, or “Millennials” and the eldest of “Generation Z”. Pew clocked Snapchat use for news among

this group at 82%, a 30% lead over all other forms of social media, trailed only by Instagram, who has

implemented many of the same features that Snapchat has in the last year. And it’s also worth noting that

YouTube is the third most used social media platform for news among this age group, at 36%.

Note that Facebook is the second lowest social media platform used among this age group, just

above LinkedIn, which isn’t generally regarded as a social media news source beyond industry specific,

career related news.

Another finding of the Pew Report is that while more of the younger generation is using Snapchat

for news, this is likely one of their only news sources, because their use of other platforms is distinctively

low across the board; with the exception of news websites/apps. Which begs the question: How are they

vetting their news to ensure what they’re reading is true?

A Washington Post article titled “'These are all fake news,' said the honor student. He was

wrong” – which admittedly, relies on unnamed sources but explains that they do so to protect the

student’s identities, and which includes several photos of the same students in the same setting - describes

a classroom workshop at the Newseum in Washington D.C. called “Fighting Fake News” where students

are tasked with sifting through printed news articles from off-brand websites and deciding which are real

and which are fake. The writer tracks the students process and reasoning for judging the stories, and

describes them looking at (real) images and suspecting that they’ve been photoshopped, and then looking

up DailySnark.com on twitter and thinking an article about the dead gorilla Harambe getting thousands of

votes for president was real because the source, DailySnark, was verified.

Twitter’s “verified” badge is used to distinguish celebrity and professional accounts from other,

copycat accounts on the platform, but remains a source of confusion to more than just the honor students

at the Newseum. An article on Stanford’s Graduate School of Education’s website describes student’s

impression of the verified badge:

“Students were asked to evaluate two Facebook posts announcing Donald Trump's

candidacy for president. One was from the verified Fox News account and the other was from an

account that looked like Fox News. Only a quarter of the students recognized and explained the

significance of the blue checkmark. And over 30 percent of students argued that the fake account

was more trustworthy because of some key graphic elements that it included.”

In fact, a quick google search suggests that hackers may target verified accounts as a means of

spreading fake news – but that is neither here nor there, nor verified.

However, the Stanford Study, which has been widely sourced, also led to several other key

findings, such as:

More than 80 percent of middle schoolers believed that 'sponsored content' was a real

news story. (NPR)

More than 30 percent of students thought a fake Fox News account was more trustworthy

than the real one. (NPR)

Less than a third of students thought MoveOn.org has a political agenda that might justify

skepticism about its data on gun owners. (NPR)

The American Press Institute did a study on digital factors and their value to news consumers.

Not surprisingly, despite Facebook being the most highly trafficked social media site for news, those who

use it trust it the least of all the platforms. Interestingly, they trust LinkedIn the most.

Respondents to this survey were also asked which digital factors were most important to news

consumption. Respondents voted Ad placement, screen load times, and if it works well on their phone as

some of the most important factors. Note that while they valued these features above hyperlinked content

and availability of images/video – fewer respondents voted them “not very important at all” than did

respondents who didn’t care at all if the site worked well on their mobile phone, though they were still

lagging in the “extremely/very important” category.

Trust in social media content was more or less the same across platforms, with the majority

preferring to trust the original source, trusting the secondary source who posted it was a close second, and

the number of people engaging with the post being the least valued measure of trustworthiness.

Generation Z’s trust in the Government should also be considered, but this is hard to judge

because most of them are too young to even vote. The Pew Research Center’s chart below depicts the

trust in the government as declining among Millennials and the Silent Generation, and increasing among

Generation X and the Baby Boomers as we approach Trump’s administration.

Given what we know about Generation Z – that they were shaped by the recession and therefore

act much like the Silent Generation, which was shaped by the Great Depression – and that the only ones

who are old enough to vote are sometimes encapsulated in data about Millennials, it’s fair to say that

Generation Z has a low trust in the government as well.

METHODOLOGY

Sampling TechniquesThe over-18 population of Generation Z was sampled through their colleges in the survey. New

Jersey Community Colleges including Raritan Valley Community College, Warren County Community

College and Union County Community College participated in the survey. The professor/s handed out the

surveys on paper to his/her students, who returned completed surveys it to the professor, who gave the

surveys to the author of the report. Arizona State University and The County College of Morris also

participated via an online version of the survey via SurveyMonkey, and the online survey was also shared

with the author of the report’s Facebook friends. The Survey does not request respondents’ names, and is

therefore anonymous – but it does request their birthdate.

Survey InstrumentUltimately, for simplicity, as the community colleges have various access to computers in the

classroom, the surveys will be manually uploaded to the online SurveyMonkey platform by the author of

the report. SurveyMonkey can generate charts, so it is simpler for the author to run the data through

SurveyMonkey and export its analysis.

Data Collection

Data will be sifted through, and respondents born before January 1, 1995 will be removed in

order to be consistent with the broadest definition of “Generation Z”.

RESULTS OF THE PROJECT

Response Rate of Survey

Question SummariesQuestion One: This question just asked the respondents’ their birthday, so that I could determine if they

were in fact a member of Generation Z. 29 respondents were not, and were therefore removed from the

survey.

Question Two:

Question Three:

Question Four:

Question Five:

Question Six:

Question Seven:

Question Eight:

Question Nine:

Question Ten:

Question Eleven:

Question Twelve:

Question Thirteen:

Question Fourteen:

Question Fifteen:

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary

Conclusions

Recommendations

REFERENCES1. Am, P. 0. (2017, May 24). How people decide what to trust on social media and online. Retrieved

October 03, 2017, from https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-

research/news-trust-digital-social-media/

2. Bell, P. (2017, May 02). Public Trust in Government: 1958-2017. Retrieved October 03, 2017,

from http://www.people-press.org/2017/05/03/public-trust-in-government-1958-2017/

3. Contrera, J. (2017, September 04). 'These are all fake news,' said the honor student. He was

wrong. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/these-are-all-fake-news-said-the-honor-student-

he-was-wrong/2017/09/01/e2db60be-890a-11e7-961d-2f373b3977ee_story.html

4. Domonoske, C. (2016, November 23). Students Have 'Dismaying' Inability To Tell Fake News

From Real, Study Finds. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/23/503129818/study-finds-students-have-

dismaying-inability-to-tell-fake-news-from-real

5. Effective Headlines of Newspaper Articles in a Digital Environment. (n.d.). Retrieved September

24, 2017, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2017.1279978?

scroll=top&needAccess=true

6. Fry, R. (2016, April 25). Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation.

Retrieved October 03, 2017, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/25/millennials-

overtake-baby-boomers/

7. Greenwood, S., Perrin, A., & Duggan, M. (2016, November 11). Social Media Update 2016.

Retrieved October 03, 2017, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-

2016/

8. Shearer, E., & Gottfried, J. (2017, September 07). News Use Across Social Media Platforms

2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-

across-social-media-platforms-2017/

9. Stanford researchers find students have trouble judging the credibility of information online.

(n.d.). Retrieved October 03, 2017, from https://ed.stanford.edu/news/stanford-researchers-find-

students-have-trouble-judging-credibility-information-online

10. The Impact of Trust in the News Media on Online News Consumption and Participation. (n.d.).

Retrieved September 24, 2017, from

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2017.1279979?

scroll=top&needAccess=true

APPENDIX

SurveyPrint Survey

News Browsing Habits Survey1. When is your Birthday? ________/________/________2. Where do you get your national news? (please circle one)

a. Web (if circled, please specify below)i. Mobile

ii. Tabletiii. Computer

b. Print Newspaperc. Broadcast Televisiond. Radioe. Social Media (If circled, please specify below)

i. Facebookii. Twitter

iii. Instagramiv. Snapchatv. YouTube

3. How many times a week do you interact with the news outlet you circled above? _____times/week

4. Where do you get your local news? (please circle one)a. Web (if circled, please specify below)

i. Mobileii. Tablet

iii. Computerb. Print Newspaperc. Broadcast Televisiond. Radioe. Social Media (If circled, please specify below)

i. Facebookii. Twitter

iii. Instagramiv. Snapchatv. YouTube

5. How many times a week do you interact with the news outlet you circled above? _____times/week

6. Which of the following would you like to see in the news? (Please check all that apply)____ A story about a National Football Player breaking his ankle____ A story about another country’s perspective on bitcoins____ A chart depicting the likeliness that parents will vaccinate their children against certain diseases____ A calendar of the upcoming little-league season game dates for your town____ A story about a popstar breaking up with her boyfriend____ Snow Day/Delayed Opening Information for all of the schools in your area____ A story about a fundraiser meeting their goals____ A story about a new club being offered at your school____ A story about a youtuber raising thousands of dollars for a family whose home burned down____ A story about a dog that saved its owner from a local fire____ A video of a squirrel that can speak English

7. Which of the below news stories are you most likely to read/skim/watch? (circle all that apply)

a. HOMEMADE GIANT BACKYARD b. She had no idea why the crowd started cheeringc. Who gets married today? The rich and the educatedd. I’m a woman and I started using dollar shave club. Here are my thoughts.e. What do Scientists think of Religion?f. 12 Poses to Soothe Your Moodg. Ten Times Donald Trump insulted groups this fallh. FAMILY HOUSE DESTROYED IN THE HOUSTON FLOODi. We Have Trumps Tax Recordsj. 29 Awesome New Ways To Style Your Natural Hair

8. Which of the below news stories are you most likely to read/skim/watch? (circle all that apply) a. Famous Teenager is Making Home Renovationsb. High School Class Surprises Classmate by Crowning Prom Queenc. New Marriage Study Reveals Rich and Educated Most Likely to Marryd. Review of Dollar Shave Clube. What do Scientists think of Religion?f. Calming Yoga Posesg. Trump Continues to Insult Others from the White Househ. Home Destroyed by Floodi. Trumps’ Tax Records: Revealedj. New Ways to Style Your Hair

9. How would you rate your trust in the government in general, through the course of your lifetime? (1 = least, 5 = most, please circle)

1 2 3 4 5

10. How would you rate your trust in the Trump Administration? (1 = least, 5 = most, please circle)1 2 3 4 5

11. How would you rate your trust in Social Media News? (1 = least, 5 = most, please circle)1 2 3 4 5

12. How would you rate your trust in traditional news media (New York Times, CBS, FOX, etc)? (1 = least, 5 = most, please circle)

1 2 3 4 5

13. How would you rate your trust in bloggers, vloggers, etc? (1 = least, 5 = most, please circle)1 2 3 4 5

14. Please List some of the media that you subscribe to:

Brand (ex: NBC, Buzzfeed, Casey Neistat) Platform (ex: TV, YouTube, Twitter)

15. Which of the below topics do you want to stay informed about? (Circle all that apply)

A. CrimeB. SchoolC. CommunityD. FinanceE. BusinessF. Entertainment G. ReviewsH. CelebritiesI. PoliticsJ. Changing laws and policiesK. WarL. MedicalM. InterestingN. ComedyO. Other: _________________

15. Which of the following designs appeals to you? (please circle one)

a.

b.

c.