Inquiry into the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society

A New Approach (ANA) welcomes this opportunity to make a submission to the Inquiry. ANA is Australia’s national arts and culture think tank. Through credible and independent public leadership, ANA helps build an ambitious and innovative policy and investment environment for arts, culture and creativity. We work to ensure Australia can be a great place for creators and audiences, whoever they are and wherever they live.

ANA welcomes this inquiry. Our research confirms that social media is a key place for arts and culture participation and engagement. As such, the impacts of social media and regulation of social media extend beyond the specified areas in the terms of reference to also include social cohesion, for example.

ANA’s national focus group research shows thatFor example, see Kate Fielding and Jodie-Lee Trembath, “A View from Middle Australia: Perceptions of Arts, Culture and Creativity,” Insight Series (Canberra: A New Approach and the Australian Academy of the Humanities, May 2020), https://newapproach.org.au/wpcontent/uploads/2021/07/3-ANA-InsightReportThree-FullReport.pdf; Jodie-Lee Trembath and Kate Fielding, “The next Generation of Voters: Young Middle Australians Talk Arts, Culture and Creativity,” Insight Series (Canberra: A New Approach, August 2021), https://newapproach.org.au/wpcontent/uploads/2021/08/ANA-InsightReportSix-Fullreport-6.pdf.

• middle Australians think arts and culture are the building blocks of community, connection and place, and therefore to social cohesion.
• middle Australians consider social media such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to be key places for arts and culture engagement and participation. Noting cost of living pressures, ANA also highlights that social media are typically also free and affordable places for arts and culture activity.
• middle Australians across all age cohorts see creating and sharing arts and culture content via social media platforms are arts and culture activities. In addition, younger middle Australians see digital engagement, including via social media, as ubiquitous and totally embedded into their lives.

We confirm that this submission can be made public. In our role as a philanthropically funded, independent think tank, ANA is ready to provide further information about the response in this submission and would welcome the opportunity to discuss.

Warm regards,

Kate Fielding, CEO, A New Approach (ANA)