Who’s Listening?

A research program by the Media and Journalism Research Center aimed at studying the latest trends in news media and information consumption

In 2025, as part of its renewed strategic direction, the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC) launched Who’s Listening?—a research initiative aimed at unpacking the complex dynamics of diverse audiences and communities. Unlike MJRC’s traditional media mapping projects, this initiative shifts the lens toward the social, political, and cultural environments that shape the audiences media organizations hope to reach.

The project seeks to explore how people engage with, consume, create, and share information in the course of their everyday lives—and to what extent that engagement is driven by professional journalism and established media outlets.

Projects

Life on social media in Central and Eastern Europe: habits, beliefs, attitudes

Objective and rationale

This research analyzes the nuanced characteristics of social media users in Eastern Europe, exploring their profiles and behaviors in greater detail. The backdrop to this investigation includes a series of noteworthy political developments, most notably the latest 2024 presidential election in Romania, which signaled profound changes within the region’s information and communication landscape. While much of the discourse thus far has centered on mapping and analysing foreign influence, far less is understood about the underlying motivations that steer audiences toward various sources and platforms for information.

To date, studies on media consumption have largely relied on a macro framework—focusing on quantifiable metrics such as website traffic, user engagement on social networks, and time spent consuming content. While valuable, this macro perspective often overlooks crucial contextual nuances.

This research project seeks to strike a different chord by embedding itself within the microcosms of audiences, aiming to unearth how a bevy of factors—ranging from local economic conditions and cultural norms to personal values, attitudes, and beliefs—shapes individual approaches to communication and information consumption.

Methodology

As part of the project Life on Social Media in Central and Eastern Europe: Habits, Beliefs, Attitudes, run by the Media and Journalism Research Center in partnership with the Thomson Foundation, four case studies were developed, detailed as follows:

a). TikTok usage in Romania

Raluca Petre (Ovidius University Constanta, Romania)

Alexandra Codău (Ovidius University Constanta, Romania)

Valentin Vanghelescu (Ovidius University Constanta, Romania)

Adrian Anton (Ovidius University Constanta, Romania)

Raluca Radu (University of Bucharest, Romania)

Manuela Preoteasa (Euractiv, Romania)

b). Facebook usage in Hungary

Eva Bognar (Media Forum Association, Hungary)

c). Facebook usage among Hungarian-speaking communities in Romania

Tibor Toro (Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Romania)

Tamás Kiss (Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, Romania)

d). X (formerly Twitter) usage in Poland

Michal Glowacki (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Filip Switkowski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Jacek Mikucki (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Jan Manicki (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Each case study was carried out by a research team of experts conducting a minimum of 20 detailed, face-to-face (in person or on video platforms) interviews with active users of the respective platforms. These conversations covered two key thematic areas outlined in the questionnaire below.

List of topics and questions used in interviews

Section 1  

The first segment seeks to understand people’s perspectives on civic engagement, political inclinations and cultural interests.

1.1 Civic Engagement

This part seeks to unearth information about participants’ attitudes and behaviors regarding civic participation, aiming to uncover the impact, motivations, and obstacles associated with being actively involved in their communities. Sample questions include:

– Which civic activities do you normally engage in (e.g., voting in elections, participating in protests, volunteering with local organizations, contacting elected representatives, attending town hall discussions, etc.)?  

– Who are the people you typically converse with about social or political issues (e.g., family, friends, colleagues, etc.)?  

– What topics or issues interest you the most (e.g., education, healthcare, corruption, climate change, economic conditions, etc.)?  

– How would you evaluate your understanding of how local and national governments operate?

1.2 Political Preferences and Opinions

The aim of this part is to gauge respondents’ political leanings and understand the criteria they use when forming judgments about political candidates and ideologies. Illustrative questions include:

– Which political party do you trust to address the issues that matter the most to you?

– What key factors do you consider when assessing a political candidate’s suitability?  

– How would you characterize yourself in terms of political beliefs (allow interviewees to refer in their own words to their political identity, i.e. left, right, liberal, etc.)?

– Which foreign nations or global powers do you view as the most reliable, supportive, or beneficial allies to your country, and which ones do you consider untrustworthy or the least amicable towards your nation?

1.3 Cultural Interests

This portion of the interview seeks to uncover the types of cultural experiences and events individuals are most attracted to and prefer engaging with. Suggested questions include:

– When it comes to your cultural and leisure pursuits, which areas dominate your spending (i.e., tickets to theatre/cinema/concerts/sporting events, museum visits, purchases such as books, streaming services, or digital media subscriptions, etc.)?

Section 2

The second section is dedicated to exploring people’s affinity for technology, the driving forces behind individuals’ engagement with social networks, with an emphasis on their primary uses, such as seeking and consuming content, the nature and purpose of the information pursued, and so on.

2.1 Tech Use

– On a scale of “baby steps” to “tech wizard,” how would you rate your expertise with modern communication technologies?  

– On average, how much time do you spend online each day, and which types of websites, platforms, or apps dominate your browsing habits? Please share as much detail as possible, including insight into how much of this activity occurs on mobile devices.

– What kinds of products or services do you most frequently pay for online?

2.2 Content choices

Social media use

– What are your primary uses of the social media platform Facebook/TikTok/X (e.g., communication, entertainment, activism, etc.)? Please expand on your usage patterns in as much detail as possible.

– Why does social media platform Facebook/TikTok/X appeal to you more than other media: what value, benefits, or unique incentives does it offer that stand out to you?

– How do you decide what content or information to engage with on the social media platform Facebook/TikTok/X? For example, what factors influence your choices when deciding what to watch, read, or listen to?

Media use

– What kinds of media content do you typically consume, and how do you go about searching for it (confirm how the interviewee defines “media,” whether that includes media platforms, social networks, or other types of content providers.)

– What are your thoughts on a). the media and journalists and b). influencers in your local community and in your country overall: do you trust, interact with, or follow any of them?

– What qualities must a source (medium) possess to gain your confidence? With that in mind, where do you typically look for information, and what approach do you take to find information regarding the following topics:

 a. Elections and political matters, including candidates, ideological debates, or international politics.

 b. Issues of your interest, including topics like education, healthcare, or corruption.

 c. Local cultural and sports events of interest.

Publication

The study is available here.

Cite this study

Marius Dragomir, Adrian Anton, Eva Bognar, Alexandra Codău, Michal Glowacki, Tamás Kiss, Jan Manicki, Jacek Mikucki, Raluca Petre, Manuela Preoteasa, Raluca Radu, Norina Solomon, Filip Switkowski, Tibor Toro, Valentin Vanghelescu. (2025). Hooked on the Feed: An Analysis of How Facebook, TikTok, and X Shape Information Consumption in Eastern Europe. Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC): Tallinn/London/Santiago de Compostela. Thomson Foundation: London.  doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12154.81608

Team

Adrian Anton
Adrian is a journalist based in Constanta, Romania. In 2022, he won the Best Local Press award and was nominated in the same year for the Best Debut category in the Superscrieri journalist competition. He has a degree in Journalism from the Ovidius University in Constanta.
Minna Aslama Horowitz
Minna Aslama Horowitz is a Docent at the University of Helsinki and serves as the Head of Interaction for the research consortium DECA (https://www.decatutkimus.fi/home). In addition, she researches epistemic rights and European media policy, in particular those related to public service and media and information literacy. She is also a member of NORDIS, a hub of the European Digitalk Media Observatory. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki and has taken part in several international research activities in the past decade.
Eva Bognar
Éva is the Coordinating Director of Mediaforum, the association of independent Hungarian media outlets. She is senior program officer at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest managing and supervising media and journalism related programs, and conducting research as a sociologist (on maternity leave).
Alexandra Codău
Alexandra is a Lecturer (PhD) in Journalism at Ovidius University of Constanța (UOC), Romania. Her main research interests include journalistic practices in print and digital media, fake news, and gender studies. She also teaches in the master's program Public Relations and Intercultural Development within the Faculty of Letters at UOC. She has over ten years of professional experience in the local press of Constanța. Over the years, she has published articles in „Dilema veche”, „Revista 22”, as well as on platforms coordinated by the Freedom House Romania Foundation. Together with Raluca Petre, she co-evaluated the Romanian translation of the UNESCO handbook Journalism, 'Fake News' and Disinformation (2021). Since 2024, Ada Codău has been a member of the European Sociological Association (ESA).
Jan Manicki
Jan is a PhD student at the University of Warsaw, Poland, where he carries out research on mobile audiovisual social media. His research interests include audiovisual communication, recommendation algorithms in social media and AI. Member of the Polish Communication Association. He also works as a journalist in the Polish news portal Onet, where he writes about popular culture, music and science. In the past he worked for almost all of the biggest online media outlets in Poland.
Jacek Mikucki
Jacek is an Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland. He has been involved in several projects on media and communication in smart cities, media platforms and media-related risks and opportunities for deliberative communication. His research interests include new forms of media, local communication, audiovisual arts and creative industries. He has professional experience and practical skills in editorial offices, marketing, public relations, and internal communication departments.
Raluca Petre
Raluca is the coordinator of Communication Studies, and associate professor of Media Sociology at Ovidius University in Constanța, Romania. She has a PhD in Sociology from Gradute School for Social Research at IFiS PAN in Warsaw, and an MA in Economy & Society from Central European University. She is especially interested in media policy and regulation, content regimes, and the practice of journalism and its sustainability. She recently guest edited a special issue of the European Journal of Communication on Information as Public Good and Public Service Media in Europe, Vol. 39 (6).
Raluca Radu
Raluca is a professor at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies, University of Bucharest. Her work focuses on media and journalism, in general, and audience studies and digital radicalization, due to disinformation, in particular. Her recent work includes Romania’s contribution to the Digital News Report and the EU-funded GEMINI project on gender equality in the media and PROMPT project on malevolent narratives at European level.
Filip Świtkowski
Filip is a researcher at the University of Warsaw. He has a PhD in political science and administration and a master’s degree in law. His research activity is focused on contemporary political and media systems and the impact of new media on shaping public policies. Currently, he is a member of the research team of the CHANSE project “Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms”. He is also an attorney-at-law trainee in the Bar Association in Poland.