CNN Chat
Social Impact
Media Literacy
Research & Design
Year
2024
Duration
Ongoing
Team
4 People
What?
An online platform promoting media literacy and fostering discussions among Gen Z news consumers and their families and friends.
Why?
Gen Z often find news on social media unreliable, incomplete, and not engaging or relevant to
their interests.
How?
Gen Z shape their opinions through friends, family, and trusted social media influencers.
These insights can inform a platform designed to address their challenges.
Background
Audience
News Consumption
Information Flow
CNN’s rapidly increasing digital audience
U.S. TV + Digital 134M
CNN has a global base of 195M followers, with 68% of it's viewers situated in the U.S. as TV and digital consumers.
U.S. Digital 127M
Within the U.S. TV and digital, 94% is accounted for by the digital segment.
U.S. Mobile 106M
Among the U.S. digital audience, 83% are mobile users.
68% of global
viewership
94% of viewership
in the U.S.
83% of U.S.
digital viewers
Value exchange map
Supply
Cycle
Competitors
Local People & Groups
Promoters
TV & Radio
Media
Community Organizations
Local Businesses
Social Media
Religious Organizations
Neighbors
Local Issues
NGOs
Schools
Issue Organizations
Distributors
Manufacturers
Global Partners
Content Partners
Suppliers
Wholesalers
Advertisers
Tech Partners
Retailers
Society
[1] Picard, Robert G. "Value Creation and News Organizations.", April 2006.
[2] Nyamnjoh, Henrietta. "Journalists' Perceptions of Social Media as Sources of Information in Cameroon.", May 2024.
"The value of journalism has traditionally been cast as its social value based on populist democratic ideals of the value
of an informed and educated public…” [1]
In journalism practice, sources make the news. With the world today facing numerous crises… getting sources in journalism practice has become more challenging and this is negatively affecting the profession. [2]
Problem Statement
There is a need for a digital discussion space tailored to Gen Z's news consumption on social media platforms.
This platform should effectively filter out fake news, allowing Gen Z to gather with family and peers to
discuss relevant topics in a safe environment. It should
help expand their knowledge with a balanced media diet and support the development of their identities and beliefs.
Digital Discourse
Knowledge & Trust
Identity
Opportunity Space
Workshop and testing
Hypothesis
Different news content can have either a positive or a negative emotional affect.
Goal
To get participants comfortable and engaged by facilitating a light-hearted introduction to the topic of "GenZ news diet."
Activity 01: Icebreaker
Participants are introduced to four news articles from different categories (health, finance, politics, tech) and are encouraged to express their initial emotion through an emoji or a word.
Activity 02: Journey mapping
Participants are encouraged to create a journey map based on the most recent news they remember. In a conversational format, they answer qualitative questions to help us understand their motivations and struggles along the way.
Hypothesis
People are more likely to react to a news article if they find it relatable.
Goal
To understand which
types of news have the most impact, how people encounter them, and the purposes they seek
through them.
Activity 03: Incidental news
Participants are shown news content in short video format and asked to rate three videos on a scale of 1-5 based on how relatable, honest, interesting, and original they find them.
Hypothesis
Younger demographics that follow opinion leaders view them as more trustworthy than legacy media.
Goal
To visually map and prioritize the traits that build trust in opinion leaders on social media.
Primary Stakeholders
Peer Network
Young generation feels that social media better connects them to their friend's lives and feelings. While many post their accomplishments on social media, only few discuss their religious or political beliefs.
Opinion Leaders
Young generation often get news from personalities, influencers, and celebrities on social media, but they don't see these sources as particularly trustworthy. They feel that influencers may unintentionally allow their perception of an event to seep into their reporting of it.
01
Screening process for selection of incubees
Verify the opinion leaders are from diverse backgrounds and align with the values of fact-based commentary.
02
Data Privacy and Transparency
Reinforce clear communication around the goals of the program and that opinion leaders disclose their involvement with CNN appropriately.
03
Avoid Perpetuating Silos
Ensure that opinion leaders are leveraging their following in a responsible way while also avoiding polarization.
Ethical Considerations
For a collaboration involving multiple stakeholders, it is crucial to maintain open communication about each participant's purpose, roles, the nature of the collaboration, and the expected outcomes. These ethical considerations ensure the outcomes align with diversity, equity, and inclusion while maintaining a safe environment for personal data, both during its production and distribution.
Design Directions
a layer of credibility
and sources
Younger Audiences
to present
by adding
while providing
news to
to get a different
perspective of
trains
their own spin
that resonate with
CNN
Opinion Leaders
their content
01
Incubator Program
Focused on source of content creation, the Incubator Program trains opinion leaders in journalistic practices for
better-informed news commentary. This ensures that their virtual content is ethically compliant, unbiased, and
factually accurate, further legitimizing their platform.
Goals
Train influential opinion leaders to combat accidental misinformation and partner with them to provide commentary on CNN news stories
on popular content platforms.
Product + Service
Create infrastructure to train opinion leaders and support media creation while maintaining journalistic integrity. Develop a service to mentor and engage with opinion leaders.
Social Impact
Expand the reach of credible news while adapting to changing news consumption behaviors.
Expected Impact
Adoption of
Cited Sources
Strengthen CNN’s reputation as a
reliable news source
by consistently delivering accurate, and unbiased news.
Measurement
Number of sources cited by the content creator.
Click-through-rate
on cited sources by users.
Quality of Audience Engagement
Promote balanced, healthy discussions on news content fostering an informed and engaged community.
Measurement
Analyzing user sentiments through their comments and feedback.
Tracking changes in sentiment over time.
Learnings
Key takeaways
Systemic solutions automatically solves user problems
Diversity in participation creates a richer data set
Reflect on your own biases before empathizing with people
Involve communities at every step of the design process
Ethical considerations helps evaluate inclusion & exclusion
Opportunity 01: Digital Dinner Tables
Support discussions in digital spaces with media literacy
Enhance digital spaces to better support discussions by integrating media literacy tools.
Opportunity 02: Entertainment Factor
Support diverse content consumption formats
Amplify news watching experiences on social media platforms without compromising integrity.
Opportunity 03: Relatability Factor
Enable personalized content while maintaining credibility
Offer a multi-format news consumption experience while ensuring the news remains credible.
Opportunity 04: News Fatigue
Provide actionable follow-ups while reducing fatigue
Minimize friction in content screening and provide actionable follow-ups on issues that matter to users.
02
CNN Companion & Family Hub
Focused on content consumers, the CNN Companion and Family Hub enable Gen Z to create private spaces with their family members for collaborative discussions on news and current events. This enables Gen Z to express their identity
in a safe environment that values open dialogue, fosters family harmony, and ensures they feel heard and cared for.
Case 01: CNN Companion
Step 01
News Sharing
Receive news on your personal chat
Step 02
Suspicion
News links to social media platform and raises concerns
Step 03
Solution
Scroll down to control center and activate the Deep Scan feature
Step 04
Satisfaction
Background scanning informs
you whether a
news piece is fake
Deep Scan
Bookmark
Family Hub
Audio Story
01
03
02
04
Features
Background scanning
Listen to the news
Save it for later
Switch to Family Hub
Case 02: Family Hub
Step 01
News Sharing
Receive news on your personal chat
Step 02
Deep Dive
Gather news articles from your trusted sources
Step 03
Context
Learn about news in more than one type of format
Step 04
History
Track information you care about in the larger context
01
Data Handling, and Transparency
Provide transparency and user control on data usage and storage, and utilize encryption to safeguard sensitive information.
Ensure clear communication around the features of solution and how it functions.
02
Safe Environment and Healthy Discussions
Provide users with tools to
self-moderate and keep their communications channels
safe and supportive. Create mechanisms that help to
avoid silo-ed information.
03
Feedback, Evaluation, and Help
Allow users to report issues and problems they face directly.
Consult with media literacy advocacy groups to ensure
that media literacy tools are continuously evaluated
and improved.
Ethical Considerations
When participants feel they lack agency in decision-making or are unsure about the data being collected, they may become skeptical. Even in supervised and safe environments, unintentional harm can occur, causing discomfort or information overload. It's crucial to convey to the users that they are valued. Their voices need to be heard and acted upon promptly to ensure a strong commitment to the platform and its creators, fostering trust and engagement.
Expected Impact
Cultivation of Informed Opinions
Deeper understanding and engagement with news because of meaningful discussions within the family hub.
Measurement
Time spent on
discussion threads.
Showing interest in the form of reactions.
Sharing news with other people.
Emotional
Well-being
Provides a supportive environment for users to express their thoughts and feelings about news events.
Measurement
Adoption rate of the platform.
Number of groups created.
Sentiment analysis of discussions, and feedback.
Brainstorming
& Ideation
Co-creation
& Validation
Testing &
Iteration
Finishes
& Reflection
Next steps
The project is currently a work in progress. The first phase involved problem framing and research. We're now entering the exciting second phase, where we'll evaluate opportunity spaces through more testing and validation of our assumptions with community engagement, synthesizing and making sense of the collected data, as well as prototyping and developing concepts closer to reality.
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