La competencia mediática de los estudiantes de la carrera de comunicación social y periodismo de la Universidad Distrital en la red social Instagram y su relación con su profesión

Abstract

The present paper, based on a concurrent nested mixed methods study, analyzes the new media literacy competency of students in the Social Communication and Journalism program at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas in relation to their career, using Instagram as a focal point. To this intent, authors such as Jose Van Dijck, Henry Jenkins, and Carlos Scolari, among others, were reviewed, as they allowed to define and understand media literacy competency within a social network context. Data was collected via online survey and interviews. The most relevant findings of this study are that (1) the participants surf the social network based on their knowledge of its potentialities; it was noted that the participants use content they classify as entertaining to strengthen their online persona; (2) the participants assume their online role as communicators as they consume and disseminate multimedia content from what they deem to be trustworthy sources; and (3) it was possible to appreciate how social networks may influence educational contexts through an informal, empirical knowledge foundation.