By Saiful Azmi Bin Azman
During the first time ever TikTok being introduced globally, it has being rapidly evolved from just a dance trends and memes into a surprising source of news. Anyone can easily get information from whether it is a recent news, entertainment like songs and snippet of movie trailers, or even dance challenge. As for Malaysian students, scrolling through the FYP or “For You Page” often means encountering updates regarding politics, floods, celebrity scandals or even debates. Usually for news, it appears like a bite-sized videos which often faster than traditional media.
Therefore, this shift actually causes a generational change among the young audiences as they prefer quick and visually interactive content. Therefore, instead of just waiting for the news broadcast at 8pm every day, they can instantly get updates by scrolling through TikTok and usually from those influencers that shares the information in a more relatable ways and easy to understand. TikTok algorithm is also another interesting system that ensures trending topics reaches their audience within minutes.
The strength of the TikTok itself has always been the speed of the information being spread across the media. For instance, during the floods in Kelantan or political rallies in Kuala Lumpur where the videos about that spread so quickly giving the audiences a real time glimpses of the event.
But, there is also a consequences if the news spread too fast, because without a proper verification, misinformation can also spreads just as quickly. One UPSI students also shared in an interview session, about when he first time heard about the Johor floods on TikTok before it was released on television . He said “After I watched the video on TikTok, I realized that some videos were outdated or exaggerated”
Therefore, this actually shows the tension between immediacy and accuracy which becomes another challenge for both the audiences and journalists. Moreover, TikTok has also turned ordinary users into a citizen journalist or should we call as “keyboard warriors” where they share their thoughts on the comment section of these kind of videos. This shows with just a smartphone, anyone can freely write reports of cases, share their opinions or highlight any community issues.
As for students, they normally students often use TikTok to expose campus issues. For instance, when they make creative content of their food quality in cafeteria to rising fees. These type of video can easily gain traction and focus from viewers, sometimes can cause administrators to respond.
There are also others traditional media company which are trying to adapt to TikTok. Major mainstream outlets like The Star, Astro Awani and Berita Harian have joined TikTok . They also produce short clips of news to reach younger audiences.
As TikTok keep on rising among active social media users, it also indirectly raises ethical questions which are, who will ensures accuracy when anybody can post anything on TikTok and how do audiences can distuinguish between credible updates or viral rumors. If we look at the journalism ethics, it actually emphasizes truth, fairness and accountability of the news published.
Meanwhile on TikTok these values are harder to enforce. For example, there are a lot of other influencers which may prioritize accuracy for the sake of the views, while on the other hand audiences may also share content without checking sources. The responsibility now lies with bith the creators and consumers to validate information before deciding to publish it.
TikTok has also reflects the values of digital generation and for today’s younger generation especially when it comes to e-sports. Watching a Mobile Legend’s match on TikTok feels like as thrilling as watching football match on TV. Therefore, TikTok is not only a replacement for traditional media but an extension of how they engage with the world
In conclusion, TikTok has always become Malaysia’s mini newsroom and keep on improving with future updates. Its very well in delivering accesbility and relatability making it the favouriite platform for students. It can also stay relevant if used wisely and responsibly. In he end, TikTok is not replacing journalism but its actually reshaping it.