You probably go to Instagram or Tiktok mainly for entertainment but remember the feeling you get the last time you learned a surprising fact or picked up a new skill while scrolling through Instagram or TikTok? 

It might surprise you, but that feeling is now driving social media consumption behavior in Indonesia. A  recent survey by YouGov and Vero reveals an interesting shift in how Indonesians are using social media. 

Today, a significant portion of users are turning to social media to learn and stay informed. This trend is particularly strong among millennials and Gen Z, the largest group of  users of social media, according to social media graphic statistics by Khoros, have always been comfortable consuming information online.

This growing interest in educational content on social media has driven the development of new formats that cater to users’ needs for clear and concise information. Platforms like TikTok, with its slide content format, and Instagram, with its emphasis on carousels, are recognizing that bite-sized text and visuals are more effective for capturing attention spans and conveying complex information.

This is why TikTok often prioritizes slide content in your feed. Similarly, Instagram’s algorithm seems to favor carousel posts, even resurfacing them multiple times until you engage. This isn’t accidental. The algorithms in these platforms understand that people are increasingly using social media as a search engine and information bank to verify facts and learn new things.

This trend is supported by the YouGov and Vero survey which found that nearly half of respondents follow influencers specifically for learning and information, not just for entertainment.  As a result, audiences are shifting towards influencers who provide valuable insights, authentic reviews, and educational content that empowers them to learn and grow.

So the message it’s clear that the days of purely entertainment influencer content are fading.  It is safe to say that in the future, sustainable influencers will be those who can adapt and create informative content that caters to this new generation of social media learners. This doesn’t mean abandoning all entertainment, but rather creating a balance and incorporating informative value into the content strategy.

By embracing this shift and creating content that educates and inspires, influencers can strengthen their role as trusted sources of information while building a loyal community.

Written by Inezka Ramadhani – Community Outreach Lead