INTRODUCTION

Abstract

Articles in this special issue put the audience in the forefront of examining new communication platforms, narrative structures, as well as new challenges to the freedom of expression and audience participation in public and political life, such as the war in Ukraine, widespread misinformation and conspiracy theories. The new communication technologies have fundamentally changed how we communicate and connect with each other from the interpersonal level to the mass level. In seeking information, entertainment, diversion, socialization, and expression, people turn to diversified communication platforms and channels. Individual media repertoires have become so complex, fluent, and unpredictable that academic research is constantly struggling to keep up with emerging trends. On the one hand, new media and new ways of using existing media constantly emerge, while scholars strive to understand it. On the other hand, diverse malicious phenomena appear, limiting possibilities for expressing thoughts, emotions, attitudes, as well as participating in public and civic life. Articles in this special issue examine how we use new media and address disinformation on the Internet and in traditional media. In the first article, Ivana Stamenković and Marta Mitrović examine how young people in Serbia use TikTok, the fastest growing social media platform today. The authors apply uses and gratification theory and explore which motivations drive TikTok uses, including the needs for information, building personal identity, integration and social interaction, entertainment, and self-expression. According to their results, TikTok is a relevant source of information for the students from the south of Serbia, especially about hobbies. Students commonly join TikTok to learn about the activities of other people and gratify needs for relaxation and filling spare time. Most students are not active content contributors on TikTok but rather behave like traditional TV viewers.