Paper Title
Students' Engagement with Social Media Reels: Scope for News Outlets

Abstract
Youth in a country like India has undergone drastic lifestyle changes as a result of social media. Their engagement goes beyond just viewing or creating content. Since 230.25 million people use short videos, India is the biggest market for Instagram reels. According to Pew Research (2012), 54% of youngsters in India do not want to give up social media even when a number of issues are pointed out by social activists, parents, and researchers. The engagement ratio has also gone up to 800 likes on average (Daniel Ruby,2022). In January 2022, India had 17.8% of its population using Instagram among which the most frequent users were aged between 18-24. The use of social media Reels among the Gen Z category has gone up. Hence, the present study tries to address the following objectives using a mixed methods approach - a survey using a structured online questionnaire and a focus group discussion among students. a) To determine whether students have the habit of consuming news. b) To analyse whether students consume brief news stories they come across on social media. c) Investigating the brief news students watch on social media motivates them to consume more news. d) To identify students' perceptions of the credibility of news stories they view on social media. e) To explore if students are interested in consuming elaborate news stories on social media. f) To examine if there are any differences between media students and others in terms of news consumption patterns. The findings of the study would help media outlets to market their news content to a wider audience on one side and develop the habit of consuming news among the Gen Z audience. Keywords - Reels, News Stories, Perception, Credibility, Engagement.