"Homeless media refers to news outlets that initially distributed information solely through social media, with the majority of them now based on Instagram. Nowadays, as our findings suggest, homeless media outlets have emerged as an important source of local news, referred to for their quick update and locally relevant content. Using content analysis of their news, interviews with homeless media founders and personnel, and discussions with media audiences, this study attempts to understand their emergence and dynamics, how they are positioned among other actors in the contemporary Indonesian media landscape, and their prospects and issues. [...] The following are the main findings of this study:
• Homeless media outlets are mostly run informally, with only a few employees. Only one from nine we interviewed is registered as a media entity, and that was only after years of operation. There are two homeless media outlets that are only managed by one person. Others are mostly managed by two to five people. They may hire more on occasion if they need to create higher-quality content, such as endorsements.
• Four homeless media outlets we interviewed began as something entirely different, such as hobby, community, or paid Instagram promotion pages. They changed course after noticing increased engagement by providing local news, as well as citizens voluntarily sending them newsworthy incidents to be published.
• As the majority of homeless media outlets are not legally registered as a media entity, this raises concerns about governance among government officials and journalists. However, our homeless media interlocutors stated that they have implemented an internal code of conduct, particularly in terms of filtering misinformation.
• The informality of homeless media outlets provides them with advantageous flexibility, allowing them to respond to audience submissions or circulating internet content while making quick decisions about what content to publish.
• The most engaging content on homeless media is related to crime, followed by city facts, eccentric citizen behavior, city romantization, commotion among citizens, and accidents; however, they most frequently post about shopping/service recommendations, government policies, crime, culinary recommendations, and city facts.
• Homeless media outlets provide impressively specific and local news to their audiences immediately after it occurs, thanks to audience submissions and the circulating local social media content. They function as an effective local information hub.
• Nonetheless, because homeless media outlets rely on social media as a publishing platform and distribution channel, losing their accounts, whether due to a social media ban or hacking, can pose a significant risk to their operations. Our interlocutors have no plans to mitigate the risk. This happened to another account managed by @merapi_uncover personnel, and they were unable to do anything about it.
• Many of our audience interlocutors admit to being first exposed to local news through homeless media, and they actively use homeless media outlets to learn about recent events in their community, such as incidents they witnessed or traffic jams.
• Homeless media’s most engaging content—city facts and romantization—evokes a sense of connection between the audience and their city.
• Although not all, homeless media outlets may become participatory spaces, with citizens using them to draw attention to incidents or public issues, or to respond to other posts. [...]" (Executive summary, pages 3-5)

"Our research focuses on homeless media in five Indonesian cities: Medan, Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya. We conducted content analysis on 3,000 posts from 15 homeless media outlets, which we categorize to investigate the type and source of content that effectively generates engagement, as well as interviews with 9 homeless media in these cities to gain an insider perspective. We also conducted focus group discussions in these five cities to gain audience insight into homeless media consumption and exposure patterns." (Page 3)