As misinformation flourishes online, Facebook continues to dominate the social media news pipeline, with nearly a third of all adults (31%) getting news there regularly. But that’s a drop from its 36% reach for news in 2020.
Nearly half (48%) of all US adults get news at least “sometimes” or “often” through social media, according to a Pew Research Center survey just released. That’s a slip of about five percentage points from 2020.
Facebook’s overall user base as a percentage of American adults also stumbled, dropping from 68% in 2020 to 66% this year. And the percentage of Facebook users who regularly get news there dropped from 54% to 47%.
Among most of the 10 platforms included in the new Pew survey, most saw their reach with news largely unchanged, researchers said.
TikTok stood out with its gains in the news world, with 29% of users now getting news there, up from 22% last year. But that’s still only six percent of adults.
YouTube remains the social media platform used by the most American adults (72%), but only 22% use it for news. Only 23% of American adults use Twitter, but more than half of those — about 13% — get news via Tweet.
The researchers note that there are some drastic demographic differences among the sites’ users. Among the findings:
- White adults make up majorities on Facebook (60%) and Reddit and (54%).
- On Instagram, 36% of users are white, 33% are Hispanic, and 20% are Black.
- On Facebook, 64% of news consumers are women. On Reddit, where only 7% of adults get news, two-thirds are men.
- Only 4% of adults get news on LinkedIn, but 57% of those have a four-year college degree or higher.
- Snapchat has the youngest and least educated group of news readers among the 10 platforms included in the survey.
- Facebook has the oldest base of news consumers, with just 23% under 30 and 36% at least 50.
- On all 10 platforms, the majority of those getting news identified as Democratic or Democratic-leaning. Reddit user are the furthest left, with 74% on the Democratic side versus just 23 percent on the right.
- Facebook has the most conservative news readers, but still has 52% at least leaning Democratic, and just 44% Republican or Republican-leaning.
Researchers surveyed 11,178 adults between July 26 and August 8.
Tumblr was included in Pew’s 2020 survey, but was left out in 2021.
The survey comes a month after Pew reported that 48 percent of adults think the U.S. government should take steps to restrict false information online, even if it limits freedom of information, up from 39% in 2018. That survey also found 59% of adults think tech companies should do more to fight online misinformation.
