Young people today are often described as “always online”, but this framing misses something more fundamental. Social media is an environment they inhabit. Organisations must move beyond viewing digital platforms as tools and instead understand them as spaces where young people live, learn and express themselves.
This shift has far-reaching implications, not only for how we communicate with young people, but for how we understand and design interventions that resonate with them.
From channels to environments
Young people born after 1997 have been called the first generation of true ‘social natives’. Across Europe, 97% of young people report using the internet daily - and 65% use social media as their main source of information -(European Commission, 2025) highlighting how deeply digital environments are embedded in everyday life. However, usage alone does not tell the full story.
Social media functions as a dynamic space for learning, socialising, and self-expression - not passive consumption. Young people are highly media literate and acutely attuned to inauthenticity.
For institutions, this presents a clear challenge: engagement fails when we attempt to pull young people into adult-defined spaces, rather than meeting them where they already are.
The opportunity - and risk - of digital spaces
Social media brings both opportunities and risks. On one hand, it can amplify harmful narratives, reinforce exclusion, and create closed loops of influence. Algorithms can prioritise confidence over credibility, shaping how young people interpret information and whom they trust.
On the other hand, these same environments offer powerful opportunities for meaningful engagement. When designed for digital spaces - rather than adapted from traditional approaches - engagement can drive measurable impact. Verian’s Love Better campaign used social-first, youth-centred design to encourage behaviour change at scale, achieving more than 26 million engagements and 2.3 million completed views.
Similarly, our evaluation work of a TikTok campaign with Santé publique France demonstrated how analysing comments can provide deep insight into audience reactions. This approach captures tone, acceptance, rejection, and how messages are reinterpreted in real time. Influencer-led content also showed added value compared to more traditional campaigns, with audiences demonstrating more thoughtful and sustained engagement.
Why traditional approaches fall short
Many traditional engagement and research methods struggle to capture the realities of young people’s digital lives. Standardised formats often fail to reflect how young people communicate today.
Some, particularly young men, may find it difficult to articulate emotions and context in conventional research settings, while digital behaviours can be filtered, curated, or even mediated by AI.
“Mixed methods, including technology mediated forums, chats, boards and simulated digital social environments must be considered to supplement face to face qualitative approaches and standard surveys, if we are to understand the breadth and depth of young men’s experience. Our experience also suggests careful consideration must be given to effects like gender and/or generation matching researchers in qualitative settings.”
- Melanie Wiese, Managing Director, Verian
As a result, there is a risk that research and engagement approaches miss nuance, lived experience, and authenticity. The challenge is not only methodological but conceptual. Social media engagement is frequently framed in terms of risk - misinformation, harm, or overuse - while its potential as a space for connection, reflection, and behaviour change remains underexplored. Our work with NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho demonstrated how ‘alpha generation’ kids interact with media: curating playlists; remixing content; following creators; and developing strong opinions about what they watch. The demands an ecosystem that keeps up – supporting discovery, cultural relevance, and meaningful connection.
Reframing issues to resonate
One of the most important lessons is that framing matters as much as content. Health messaging alone is often insufficient when engaging young people. Evidence from vaping-related work shows that behaviour is shaped not just by knowledge, but by social norms, identity, and peer influence.
Reframing the issue - from a purely health concern to one grounded in identity and social context - can significantly strengthen engagement.
The Love Better campaign exemplifies this approach. By framing its message around relationships rather than explicitly focusing on abuse, it created an accessible and engaging entry point while still addressing deeper underlying issues.
Designing engagement that works
So, what does effective engagement look like in practice?
- It requires a shift in mindset: channel alone isn’t enough - relevance, authenticity and social context matter just as much.
- It means working with digital environments, not against them - embracing short-form content, peer influence and participatory dialogue.
- It involves letting go of adult-led agendas - young people quickly disengage from messaging that feels imposed or inauthentic.
Towards a new model of engagement
Ultimately, engaging young people in a digital age is not about adapting existing approaches, it is about rethinking them entirely. Social media is not just a distribution channel for messages; it is a space where meaning is negotiated, identities are formed, and behaviours are shaped.
To be effective, engagement across research, campaigns, and public policy must reflect this reality. That means meeting young people where they are, designing for participation rather than broadcast, framing issues in ways that align with lived experience, and embracing digital environments as spaces for dialogue, not just delivery.
The risk is not that young people are disengaged. It is that we fail to engage them on their terms.
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