A great example of a contemporary social practice is how we use short-form vertical videos (TikToks, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts) for micro-learning in everyday life.

We’ve all done it—instead of reading a massive instruction manual or a long article, we scroll through a 60-second video to learn how to cook a meal, understand a political issue, or fix a household problem. It has completely changed how ordinary people consume information daily (Suarez-Gomez et al., 2025).

The Communicative Features of This Practice

This practice isn't just about watching a video; it has distinct communicative features that make it different from traditional reading:

Multimodality: Information isn't just text. It’s a fast-paced blend of spoken words, background music, on-screen text, emojis, and visual demonstrations all hitting you at once (Lim, 2021).
Hyper-Compression: Creators have to compress complex ideas into 30 to 60 seconds. This means information is highly summarized, visually hooked, and stripped of fluff.
Algorithmic and Interactive Feedback: The communication is a two-way street. The comment section is where the real community reading happens—viewers debate the video's accuracy, add tips, or call out misinformation, while the app’s algorithm decides what you see next based on your watch time (Suarez-Gomez et al., 2025).

Implications for Literacies Pedagogy

For teachers and schools (especially in the Philippines where digital consumption is incredibly high), this shift means literacy can no longer just be about textbooks.

Teaching Multimodal Literacy: Reading nowadays means decoding images, tone, and text simultaneously. Pedagogy needs to teach students how to analyze these moving parts. For example, how does a specific background track or fast text cut make you feel about a news story? (Lim, 2021).
The Need for "Critical Fast-Checking": Because these videos are so short, they lack nuance and can easily spread fake news. Literacies pedagogy must adapt by teaching students how to critically evaluate a 60-second TikTok—checking the creator's credibility and cross-referencing claims before believing them (Pangrazio & Selwyn, 2021).
Students as Creators, Not Just Consumers: Instead of just assigning traditional essays, modern pedagogy encourages students to synthesize information by creating their own educational micro-videos. This teaches them digital composition and responsible content creation (Pangrazio & Selwyn, 2021; Suarez-Gomez et al., 2025).

References

Lim, F. V. (2021). Designing learning with embodied teaching: Perspectives from multimodality. Routledge.

Pangrazio, L., & Selwyn, N. (2021). Higher degree research by publication: An venue for critical data literacy. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(6), 2130-2143.

Suarez-Gomez, N., Santos-Diaz, I. C., & Juarez-Sevilla, M. (2025). Short-form video platforms as tools for informal learning: Analyzing user habits and literacy practices on TikTok. Journal of New Media and Culture, 19(1), 45-62.

CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL PRACTICE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS