Social media has become the top destination for news in the US

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,240   +192
Staff member

Nearly two-thirds of adults in the US now get their news on social media with 18 percent doing so “often” according to a new study from Pew Research Center.

In a study involving nine of the top social networks, Reddit had the largest number of users that get news from its site at 70 percent. Facebook was a close second at 66 percent while 59 percent of Twitter users report getting news from the microblogging platform.

In the grand scheme of things, however, it’s Facebook that unsurprisingly comes out ahead. Pew says the two-thirds of Facebook users that get news there equates to 44 percent of the general population. That’s a lot of people turning to Facebook for news.

Interestingly enough, Pew found that Facebook, Instagram and YouTube users were more likely to get their news online by chance while doing other things online. Conversely, LinkedIn, Reddit and Twitter users often are looking for news online when they stumble upon (no pun intended) it.

The study also found that users are quite loyal to their social network of choice as it relates to news gathering. Of those that get news via social media, 64 percent do so from just one source which is typically Facebook. Only 26 percent of people utilize two sites for news and just one in 10 rely on three or more sites for news.

Pew conducted its study based on a survey of 4,654 members of its American Trends Panel between January 12 and February 8, 2016.

Permalink to story.

 
Back