Social Media and News Fact Sheet
Social media plays a crucial role in Americans’ news consumption, with about one-third of adults saying they regularly get news on Facebook and YouTube.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Research Analyst
Jacob Liedke is a research analyst focusing on news and information research at Pew Research Center.
Social media plays a crucial role in Americans’ news consumption, with about one-third of adults saying they regularly get news on Facebook and YouTube.
How Americans get news has greatly changed in the 21st century. Most now use digital devices for news at least sometimes. Read about the platforms they turn to.
X is still more of a news destination than these other platforms, but the vast majority of users on all four see news-related content.
Most Americans say the U.S. government and technology companies should each take steps to restrict false information and extremely violent content online.
A new Pew Research Center survey reveals that podcast listening is highly fragmented, and no one podcast dominates.
Roughly half of U.S. adults say they have listened to a podcast in the past year, including one-in-five who report listening at least a few times a week. Most podcast listeners say this experience includes hearing news, which they largely expect to be mostly accurate. Large shares of listeners say they turn to podcasts for entertainment, learning or having something to listen to while doing something else.
While 27% of U.S. adults say they have heard of Telegram, only 2% use the alternative social media app for news.
41% of U.S. journalists who are employed at least part time at a news outlet say they would join a union if it were available to them.
A survey of U.S.-based journalists finds 77% would choose their career all over again, though 57% are highly concerned about future restrictions on press freedom.
37% of U.S. adults say they are following news about the coronavirus outbreak very closely. That is up from 31% in March 2021.
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