“Oh, please don’t waste any time on this. I read all of the major guides, and I pulled the information into a doc. I also added notes from our experience and how we were doing a few weeks out.”
My friend, a woman I met because our kids are in the same daycare class, was emphatic about sharing her learned expertise about a topic that I really needed trustworthy advice on: potty training. The information ecosystem among parents is strong; it revolves not only around lived experiences but also dividing and conquering everything that must be learned when you are responsible for small humans, like school application deadlines and summer camp schedules. It’s the bag of too-small clothes with a side of, “Wanted to make sure you saw the updated times for parent-teacher conferences.”
The flow of information is fluid, a stream that naturally weaves knowledge from news organizations, community influencers, and friends together on social media platforms and in group chats. The friend who reposts the sanitation department’s holiday pickup schedule. The news story about a mayoral candidate’s stance on housing. The content creator that tells you about an important bicycle recall.
It has never just been about TV stations, newspapers, and radio channels. Caregivers were one of the first information ecosystems. Through shared books and chats on the sports bleachers, these informal, information-sharing networks have been a bedrock of the village required to raise children. As the internet revolutionized modern life, the shape of these communities evolved to include Facebook groups, group chats, and forwarded newsletters, but the foundational work of community messengers remains the same. Recognizing the complete picture of the information economy is critical in today’s current fight against misinformation. Everyone wants access to good information.
Content creators have emerged as a critical and powerful type of community messenger. We’ve known for many years that audiences are drawn to accounts run by people over brands, and now, for the first time, more Americans get news from social media than from any other source. Information-focused creators are trusted within their communities, whether they are drawn together through geography, interest, gender, race, or other factors. Some of these creators are trained journalists now working independently from a news organization, but many are not.
These trusted community messengers share information in an age where most reporting by traditional news organizations lives behind expensive paywalls, and misinformation is available freely across platforms. More than 165 million content creators have come onto the scene in the last five years, with much variability in content types, monetization strategies, and viewer engagement. There is no denying that what they offer is desired by audiences: The intimate, relatable nature makes information gathering feel more like a happy hour and less like homework. But with algorithms that reward the outrageous, it can be difficult to know what’s true. When you’re sleep deprived, scrolling Instagram, and wondering how to get a COVID vaccine, you need to be able to trust that the information you’re receiving is right.
We need more accurate information reaching people where they already are. By investing in information sharers through training, partnerships, and community building, we can make social platforms safer for everyone.
Over time, News Creator Corps will engage distinct networks of both existing, established creators, as well as budding, could-be creators to help grow their platforms, trusted audiences, and impact. Our training programs will combine discussions about content strategy, partnerships, and audience engagement with skill building on tactics typically held in newsrooms such as fact checking, document analysis, and interviewing, led by professionals who hold that expertise. We invest in community messengers so they can better share facts, debunk misinformation, and empower their audiences with information.
Information allows us to make the best decisions for ourselves and our families. NCC aims to strengthen trust in information-focused content creators and flood social platforms with accuracy and truth. Whether your TikTok search is for newborn sleeping tips or for an update on a local news story, you deserve to trust the information you find online.