Live Streaming of Egypt’s International Events in Creating Understanding of Sustainability to Local Youth

Author

Faculty of Communication and Mass Media,, The British University in Egypt (BUE)

Abstract

Event participation among youth has changed because of rapid developments in media technologies. Viewing live stream or hybrid events has gained popularity among youth over televised events. Popular live streaming video platforms (LSVP) are Instagram Live, Facebook Live, and TikTok Live. Over the past six years, Egypt has hosted several international events, like the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) and the World Youth Forum (WYF), that were live streamed from Sharm el-Sheikh. These events discussed sustainability and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hence, this study examines whether live streaming of Egypt’s international events helped Egyptian youth understand sustainability. The study used two research techniques, a survey on Egyptian youth and interviews. According to the survey results, most of the respondents understood sustainability from their universities and heard about both the COP27 and WYF events. Those that saw live streams of the events agreed that watching live stream events on sustainability helped them understand sustainability. They believed that social media influencers’ live streams help youth understand sustainability. The study also found a positive statistical correlation between seeing live streams of COP27 and WYF on TikTok and helping youth understand sustainability. Additionally, the interviewees believed that youth could play an active role in reaching sustainability goals. Some felt that watching live streaming of these events did not give youth enough information to understand sustainability. Furthermore, they recommended other ways to educate sustainability to youth like edutainment and adding sustainability to the education curriculum from early childhood.

Keywords


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