How do you actually find out about things happening in your city as a student?

Instagram and TikTok receiving 90% of responses indicates that visual social platforms were the dominant discovery route within this sample. For events, venues and local activities aimed at students, being visible in social feeds may therefore matter at the point when students are deciding what to do.

Word of mouth still accounted for two responses. That is a useful reminder that discovery and decision-making are not always the same thing. A student may first see something online and then rely on friends before deciding whether to attend.

The zero responses for university emails and local Facebook groups should be interpreted carefully. This poll was itself collected through Instagram Stories, so the people reached were already active within an Instagram audience. That recruitment route may make social-platform answers more likely than they would be in a broader sample.

A larger cross-channel study would be needed to compare discovery behaviour properly across different student groups. It could separate where students first hear about an event from where they check details, buy tickets or decide whether something is worth attending.