New Data From Pew Finds That 71% of Americans Now Get News Content via Social Platforms
From Social Media Today:
According to the latest data from Pew Research, which incorporates responses from more than 9,200 Americans, around 71% of people now get at least some of their news input from social media platforms.
That’s up from 68% in 2018 – though Pew does note that changes in their methodology do make direct comparison between the 2018 and 2020 numbers difficult.
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As per Pew:
“White adults make up a majority of the regular news users of Facebook and Reddit, but fewer than half of those who turn to Instagram for news. Both Black and Hispanic adults make up about a quarter of Instagram’s regular news users (22% and 27%, respectively). People who regularly get news on Facebook are more likely to be women than men (63% vs. 35%), while two-thirds of Reddit’s regular news users are men.”
That’s an interesting snapshot of varying news usage, and may provide some indicators of the trust each group places into the different social apps.
Direct to Full Text Article (via Social Media Today)
Direct to (Full Text Report via Pew Research)
Filed under: Data Files, News, Patrons and Users

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.