- NOS Stories Instagram follower milestone
- How did NOS Stories engage young people on social media?
- Impact of NOS Stories on youth news consumption
- Transition from NOS Kort to NOS Stories on Instagram
- NOS Stories plans for TikTok and future platforms
1 million people follow NOS Stories on Instagram
As the first Dutch news channel, NOS Stories has 1 million followers on Instagram.
The NOS Stories Instagram channel, featuring news videos and explainers for young people aged 13-18, began as NOS Kort, with 15-second news videos. In 2018, the channel was renamed NOS Stories and grew to become the news platform for young people.
In conversation with the target group
“We use Instagram for what it is meant for: a social medium where you engage in conversation with your audience,” says Gonnie Spijkstra, deputy chief of Stories and NOS on 3. “That’s how we know what’s going on in the world of young people. And we show where their perception becomes journalism,” for example, with dress codes at school and far-right memes on social media. Young people were known as a hard-to-reach group, with little attention to current events. NOS Stories managed to reach and engage this target group.”
Reach greater than number of followers
On average, NOS Stories reaches about two million people a week. “That means our audience is larger than just the intended target group,” says social media coordinator Stef Snakkers.
“That is partly explained by the fact that some of our initial followers have grown up. You can see that in statistics and in the reactions. For example, on an explainer video about Joran van der Sloot. On TikTok we noticed that the audience heard that name for the first time, while on Instagram there were also followers who wondered why we made a video about that.”
“Still, a lot of people have these initial questions with the news, and so we don’t skip them. What is cultured meat, and ‘Why is Russian military fighting Putin? ‘ By packaging stories into short, tightly edited videos, we make the news accessible.
Young people were known as a hard-to-reach group, with little attention to current events. NOS Stories managed to reach and engage this target group.”
Stories moves with the times
Meanwhile, Instagram has been surpassed by TikTok as the most important platform for teenagers. That also means the focus for NOS Stories is shifting. “NOS Stories wants to be where the target audience is,” says Gonnie. “That’s why we’re moving with it and focusing more and more on TikTok.”
The dependence on social media platforms also makes Stories vulnerable: “Our visibility is partly determined by the whims of social media companies. Since Stories began on Instagram, the risks have become increasingly apparent. From Elon Musk imposing restrictions on Twitter users to privacy risks on TikTok.
A next step for NOS Stories is to explore whether a platform of its own can add anything to the uncertainty of social platforms.”