Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

News Habits & Media

fact sheet

Social Media and News Fact Sheet

Overall, about half of U.S. adults (53%) say they at least sometimes get news from social media, roughly stable over the last few years. Facebook and YouTube outpace all other social media sites as places where Americans regularly get news.

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    Mosque Debate Tops Coverage, But Not News Interest

    Summary of Findings While the media focused on the emotionally-charged debate over plans to build an Islamic mosque and cultural center near the World Trade Center site in New York City last week, the public continued to track the Gulf oil leak. About a third of the public (34%) says they followed news about the […]

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    Many Say Coverage of the Poor and Minorities Is Too Negative

    Summary of Findings In evaluating news coverage of different groups, pluralities of Americans say that coverage of poor people and Muslims is too negative, while somewhat smaller percentages say the same about coverage of blacks and Hispanics. Among eight groups tested, whites and middle-class people are the only groups that majorities say are treated fairly […]

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    More Hearing Good News about Gulf Spill

    Summary of Findings In the days following BP’s latest—and apparently successful—effort to seal the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, public perceptions of news about the spill have become somewhat more positive. Only a quarter of Americans (25%) say they are hearing mostly good news about the oil spill, but that is more than […]

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    Facebook Privacy and iPhone “Jailbreaking” Engage Social Media Users

    The publication of information gleaned from Facebook profiles of millions of users was the top subject on Twitter last week. And a ruling that it’s okay to hack into the iPhone for new applications gained attention on both blogs and Twitter. On YouTube, slang-speaking teens have provoked millions of clicks for two weeks running.

Signature Reports

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Pew Research Center illustration for America's News Influencers report; photos via Getty Images

America’s News Influencers

This study explores the makeup of the social media news influencer universe, including who they are, what content they create and who their audiences are.