Document Type

Theses, Ph.D

Disciplines

1.2 COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

Publication Details

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Technological University Dublin, 2025.

doi:10.21427/q6mn-8k85

Abstract

Children under 12 are avid social media users. Of these, tweens, children aged 9 to 12, are currently the age group most likely to engage in independent social media content consumption. One of their favourite online activities is watching content produced by social media influencers and content creators, collectively referred to here as social media creators. The popularity of social media creators has grown exponentially in recent times. Considered trusted, relatable and authentic, they produce content that resonates with audiences. Consequently, their messages often possess greater persuasive power, making them a popular choice for advertisers. Creators seamlessly blend commercial messaging within their original content, blurring the boundaries between content types. This raises a specific concern for tweens, who may lack the capabilities or media literacies to discern commercial messages hidden among their content. Media literacy encompasses the skills and knowledge required to access, create, and critically analyse various forms of media. It also includes digital literacy—within the context of digital environments, algorithmic literacy—considering algorithms’ role in media choices, and advertising literacy— a set of skills to recognise and critically evaluate advertising messages. In addition, media literacy is developed in a broader socio-cultural context, and tween media literacies are developed and mediated in the social context of family and peers. This study aimed to explore tweens’ media literacies with respect to social media creators’ content in the social context of family and peers.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/q6mn-8k85

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

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