Authenticity is key to engaging youth online: Panel discussion on digital natives

SINGAPORE - Touted as the “anti-Instagram”, social media platform BeReal is popular with young people as it offers an element of authenticity that is key to engaging them online, says Dr Mark Cenite, associate dean of undergraduate education at Nanyang Technological University’s College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

The app, which was launched in 2020, prompts users once daily at a random time to take a picture of what they are doing at that moment and their surroundings, and upload it to the platform within two minutes of the notification.

Unlike other apps such as Instagram or Snapchat, it does not offer users extra features such as filters.

“For Gen Z, what they crave is authenticity, and being able to look at what people’s lives are really like,” said Dr Cenite, who teaches communication law at NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

“Social media platforms such as Facebook became popular back in the day, as we get to hear from real people instead of curated media messages. But we moved away from that, with the emergence of the creator and influencer economy, when people began producing really polished content.”

He was speaking on Monday as part of a panel discussion, Communicating To Digital Natives: From Indifference To Involvement, organised by NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School. Digital natives refer to people brought up in the digital age and are familiar with the Internet and digital devices from an early age.

The discussion, moderated by veteran journalist Diana Ser and featuring four media experts as panellists, explored the psyches of young people and how to engage them digitally.

Fellow panellist Ng Chew Wee, head of business marketing in Asia Pacific of social media giant TikTok, echoed Dr Cenite’s sentiments about authenticity in engaging youth.

Ms Ng said: “One concept that we always encourage brands to embrace at TikTok is to be ‘flawsome’, which is the belief that flaws can be awesome. We know that digital natives today can be tired of overly curated or polished content.

“We encourage brands and organisations to be comfortable showing (what goes on) behind the scenes, a different side of their brand, imperfections or vulnerabilities.”

Ms Ng cited a video posted on TikTok by French luxury brand Dior, which features English model Cara Delevingne trying to pronounce “joaillerie” – French for jewellery – for a promotional campaign. In the video, a laidback Delevingne can be seen laughing and trying repeatedly to pronounce the word correctly.

Noting this is Dior’s top liked video on TikTok, Ms Ng said: “They recognise that many people struggle with pronouncing their French names, and also give audiences a sneak peek of how they develop their campaign.”

In his opening address, Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Tan Kiat How said a study in 2022 found an average Singaporean spends about 7½ hours online daily. He said young digital natives who grew up in the presence of the online world are possibly spending even more than 7½ hours a day.

Mr Tan said: “Digital natives may interact online and use online tools in their unique ways. For instance, adapting words to evolve their own lingo or using memes as a creative way of expression.”