Eurobarometer: Social media top news source for Cypriot youth

The EU should prioritise social protection, as well as issues related to the cost of living and the need to create jobs, according to young people from Cyprus aged 16 to 30 that participated in the latest Eurobarometer youth survey, while the EU average focused on rising prices and the cost of living, climate change and job creation.

Among other findings, 44% of young Cypriots said that social media is their top source of information on political and social issues (compared to 42% in the EU). Also, 83% of young Cypriots believe they were recently exposed to disinformation (76% in the EU) and 85% said they believe they could detect disinformation (70% in the EU).

The Eurobarometer Youth Survey was carried out by Ipsos between 25 September and 3 October 2024 in all 27 EU member states. A total of 25,863 young people aged 16-30 in the EU (out of which 514 in Cyprus) were surveyed via Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) using online panels. The results were weighted according to the proportion of this age group within each EU country.

Rising prices and the cost of living

At the EU level, rising prices and the cost of living were a concern for 40% of participants, 33% said they believed the EU should focus its attention on the environment and climate change over the next five years, while 31% believe the economic situation and job creation should be a priority.

Also, 29% want the EU to prioritise social protection, welfare and access to healthcare, 27% highlighted education and training, 23% focused on housing and 21% on the EU’s defence and security as important priorities for the EU. European defence is of particular concern for young people in Czechia (36%), Poland (33%), and Estonia (32%).

Social protection, welfare and access to healthcare was the most popular priority in Cyprus (37%), followed by rising prices and the cost of living, the economic situation and job creation (31%), as well as the environment and climate change.

Social media is the top source of information

Responding to questions on their main sources of news, findings for the EU show that social media is well above TV as the main source of information on political and social issues. Social media is the top source of information for 42% of respondents aged 16-30, with television being the second most-popular source (39%).

The preference for TV is particularly noticeable among those aged 25-30. This age bracket is also more likely to use online news platforms and radio than 16-18 year-olds. Younger participants (16-18) rely more on social media (45%) than 25-30 year-olds (39%), and trust friends, family or colleagues for information (29% compared to 23%).

TV also remains the leading source of information for young people in Portugal (53%), Italy (52%), Slovenia (45%), and France (43%). Online press and/or news platforms and radio are sources of information for 26% of the younger participants and 16% of their older counterparts. In the 2021 edition of the survey, the main sources of news were social media and news websites (each of which was mentioned by 41% of respondents).

In Cyprus, social media platforms were the dominant source of news with 44%, followed by video platforms (such as YouTube) at 31%, and television at 27%. Radio is a source of information for only 8% of young Cypriots.

When it comes to widely used social media, Instagram is the top platform for obtaining political and social news among young people in the EU (47%), followed by TikTok (39%). X (formerly Twitter) is only used by 21% of young people, the survey shows.

In Cyprus, Facebook was found to be the main platform for news (52%), followed by YouTube (43%) and Instagram (31%). X meanwhile is being used only by 20% of young people in Cyprus.

(Source: CNA)