The Humorous Aspect of Religious Messages Popular in Generation Z on Social Media: A Study of Religious Students in Samarinda
Keywords:
Humorous, Religious Messages, Generation Z, Social-MediaAbstract
As digital natives, Generation Z spends over six hours daily on social media. One type of content they access is Islamic content. However, the themes most commonly associated with this content remain a topic of ongoing debate. This study aims to examine Generation Z's preferences for Islamic content on social media within tertiary-level religious studies programs. A mixed-methods approach was employed, beginning with a quantitative survey followed by qualitative analysis, with data collected via a Google Form completed by 86 undergraduate students at a state Islamic religious university in Samarinda. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings indicate that (1) the most popular social media platforms are Instagram and WhatsApp, (2) Generation Z tends to be uniform in consuming Islamic messages, with 83.7% preferring Islamic content that includes humor, followed by inspirational themes, for various reasons. These results suggest that adding humorous elements to Islamic content can help make these messages more accessible, understandable, and relevant to Generation Z. This study recommends that Muslim influencers incorporate humor into their Islamic content, provided it does not overshadow the core message. This approach aims to capture Generation Z’s attention and foster full engagement with Islamic messages.
References
Abida, F. I. N., Sudipa, I. N., Malini, N. L. N. S., & Puspawati, L. P. (2024). Humor in Dakwah: A Socio-Pragmatic Study. Randwick International of Education and Linguistics Science Journal, 5(2), 453–463.
Afriani, S. H. (2021). Berkelakar and Directives in Palembang Malay: The Islamic Humor Discourse in Indonesia. Journal of Indonesian Islam, 15(02), 301–328. https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2021.15.2.301-328
Betirudin, Sultan, M. I., Mau, M., & Ikhwan, F. (2025). Humor sebagai Media Dakwah (Analisis Semiotika dalam Film Insya Allah Sah 2). PIKMA, 7(1), 476–498.
Binawan, A. A. L. (2024). ‘Making God Smiling’ The Carnivalesque of Nahdlatul Ulama Funny Brigade. Journal of Indonesian Islam, 18(2), 481–507. https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2024.18.2.481-507
Choudhury, S. (2024). Racializing Islam through humor. Journal of Religion, 104(3), 282–307. https://doi.org/10.1086/730366
Fahrudy, D., Haryani, E. R., Nur, N. A. R., & Parhan, M. (2026). Dakwah Digital Cara Kreatif Menyebarkan Nilai Islam di Media Sosial TikTok untuk Generasi Z. Ad-Da’wah Jurnal Dakwah; Komunikasi Dan Penyiaran, 24(1), 15–30.
Fajrussalam, H., Nuratilah, A. S., Cahyani, A. P., Nada, M., & Fazrian, M. D. (2022). Keefektifan Sense of Humor sebagai Media Dakwah. Fondatia Jurnal Pendidikan Dasar, 6(2), 303–313.
Faladhin, J., Mutiara, D., & Marsya, U. (2025). Branding Piety and the Mediatization of Da’wah through Digital Content. Proceeding Jogjakarta Communication Conference, 3(1), 175–188.
Hermanto, E., & Irfansyah, M. S. (2025). Kontroversi Dakwah Gus Miftah: Memahami Batasan Humor dan Etika Komunikasi Dalam Al-Qur’an (Analisis QS. An-Nisa Ayat 63). Madani: Jurnal Ilmiah Multidisiplin, 3(1), 603–609.
Hidayah, A., & Anshar, M. (2025). Pola Konsumsi Informasi Generasi Z di Era Konvergensi Media Digital. Al Yazidiy: Jurnal Sosial Humaniora Dan Pendidikan, 7(1), 40–52.
Hilmi, M. (2018). Humor dalam pesan dakwah. Jurnal Ilmu Dakwah, 38(1), 87–110.
Iskandar, H. (2023). Dakwah Digital dari Gen Z untuk Gen Z (Gerakan Dakwah Media Pesantren). Jurnal Komunikasi Dan Penyiaran Islam, 3(1), 53–61.
Japarudin. (2017). Humor dalam Aktivitas Tabligh. Syiar, 17(2), 11–20.
Kasmani, F. (2022). Persuasive political humour on social media: A study of Najib Razak’s Facebook posts. SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 14(1), 1–17. https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2s2.0-85137024435&partnerID=40&md5=738f8dd2ed1b13ed0cd2e0b4b996522
Kristyowati, Y. (2021). Generasi “Z” Dan Strategi Melayaninya. Ambassador: Jurnal Teologi Dan Pendidikan Kristiani, 2(1), 2. stt-indonesia.ac.id › journal › index
Melani, M., & Izmuddin, I. (2024). Analisis Pengaruh Islamic Work Satisfaction dan Workplace Spirituality terhadap Peningkatan Organizational Citizenship Behavior Islamic Perspektif. Ekonomika, 19(1), 68–84.
Muthohirin, N. (2021). Da’wa in Social Media: The Views of Ustad Hanan Attaki and Felix Siauw to The Hijrah Phenomenon. Afkaruna: Indonesian Interdisciplinary Journal of Islamic Studies, 17(2), Layouting. https://doi.org/10.18196/afkaruna.v17i2.12671
Nugroho, A., Santono, R., & Miftahun, A. (2025). Dakwah Interaktif: Pergeseran dari Ceramah Satu Arah ke Diskusi Dua Arah. Selasar KPI: Referensi Media Komunikasi Dan Dakwah, 5(1), 78– 98.
Nurhasanah, N., & S, A. S. K. (2024). Pengaruh Media Sosial Instagram Terhadap Perilaku Masyarakat. Intellektika: Jurnal Ilmiah Mahasiswa, 2(2), 33–39. https://doi.org/10.59841/intellektika.v2i2.922
Pratama, A. R., Aprison, W., Yulius, Latifa, N., & Syafruddin. (2024). Dakwah Digital dalam Penyebaran Nilai-Nilai Islam di Era Digital. Tabayyun, 5(1), 45–53.
Qadaruddin, M., & Bakri, W. (2022). Postmillenial Netizens’ Reception of Da’wah Messages on Social Media. KOMUNIKA: Jurnal Dakwah Dan Komunikasi, 16(2), 117–128.
Ridwan, M., & Arifin, Z. (2024). Etika Humor dalam Dakwah: Analisis Kontroversi Ceramah Gus Miftah. MUMTAZ: Jurnal Studi Al-Qur’an Dan Keislaman, 8(02), 280–294.
Rozali, Y. A. (2022). Penggunaan Analisis Konten Dan Analisis Tematik. Forum Ilmiah, 19(1), 68– 76. www.researchgate.net
Sarjito, A. (2025). Tantangan dan Peluang Dakwah Hijau di Era Digital: Studi Kualitatif pada Komunitas Muslim. Himmah: Jurnal Kajian Islam Kontemporer, 9(1), 1037–1055.
Savaş, H., Korkmaz, C. B., İlgün, K., & Yeşildal, Ü. Y. (2024). An Approach to Bektashi Anecdotes from the Perspective of Relief Theory: Mental Aberration or Substitution of Humour. Religions, 15(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080977
Savitsky, T. D., Williams, M. R., Gershunskaya, J., & Beresovsky, V. (2023). Methods for Combining Probability and Nonprobability Samples Under Unknown Overlaps. Statistics in Transition New Series, 24(5), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.59170/stattrans-2023-061
Sitasari, N. W. (2022). Mengenal Analisa Konten Dan Analisa Tematik Dalam Penelitian Kualitatif. Forum Ilmiah, 19(1), 77–84.
Subhaktiyasa, P. G., Candrawati, S. A. K., Sumaryani, P., Sunita, N. W., & Syakur, A. (2025). Penerapan Statistik Deskriptif: Perspektif Kuantitatif dan Kualitatif. Jurnal Edukasi Matematika Dan Sains, 14(1), 96–104.
Subowo, A. T. (2021). Membangun Spiritualitas Digital bagi Generasi Z. DUNAMIS: Jurnal Teologi Dan Pendidikan Kristiani, 5(2), 379–395. https://doi.org/10.30648/dun.v5i2.464
Suyud, R., Syam, E., Fuadi, S. I., & Linnaja, N. (2023). “Urip Mung Mampir Ngguyu”: Tinjauan Falsafah Jawa dan Akhlak Humor. Journal on Education, 05(03), 10324–10334.
Swain, J., & King, B. (2022). Using Informal Conversations in Qualitative Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221085056
Wandi. (2019). Penggunaan Humor dalam Dakwah Komunikasi Islam. AL-DIN: Jurnal Dakwah Dan Sosial Keagamaan, 5(1), 84–100.
Yusuf, M., & Kasman, S. (2025). Humor Dalam Pesan Dakwah. Jurnal Kolaboratif Sains, 8(1), 1029–1035. https://doi.org/10.56338/jks.v8i1.7176
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jogjakarta Communication Conference (JCC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
