Being journalists on social media: Contrasting professionals’ self-perceptions to role expectations among adolescents

On social media, efforts by individual journalists to share news with audiences may be a viable response to personality-driven news presentation coming from peripheral actors like influencers, who are increasingly popular information sources for adolescents. Yet, when using social media to disseminate content, journalists may risk backlash, especially when innovative approaches represent a deviation from traditional journalistic norms. Drawing on expectancy violations theory and semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted among Portuguese journalists ( N = 7) and adolescents ( N = 20), we contrasted professionals’ own perceptions of being journalists on social media to adolescents’ role expectations. Findings showed that adolescents generally prefer journalists to be personal and independent when presenting news on social media, though they also recognized that journalists may in this context be bound by institutional rules. Similarly, journalists highlighted perceived pressure coming from news organizations and licensing bodies to abide by professional standards, even when using their private social media. Despite seeing value in adopting a ‘newsfluencer’-like role, journalists’ need to negotiate between various interests and expectations represents one of the main hurdles that prevents them from establishing a clear presence on these platforms – and may explain low attraction to journalistic sources on social media among adolescents.