The Pew Research Center and Knight Foundation have updated their 2013 research on news consumption across social media platforms.
The new report mainly documents with specific numbers what’s already clear — that use of social media as a primary news source is extensive, growing and spreading to other platforms beyond Facebook and Twitter.
Two findings jumped out at me:
- Social media news consumers, by a wide margin — 64 percent, get news just one on favorite site. So a Facebook enthusiast will use that news feed exclusively, a Snapchat fan just Snapchat. Of those surveyed, only 10 percent get news on three or more social sites.
- I was also struck by a tweet from Lee Rainie, who directs Pew’s internet research. He noted that we have evolved to a news landscape where, for many readers, their friends are the primary gatekeepers and editors of what news they see.
- A majority of U.S. adults – 62 percent – get news on social media, and 18% do so often.
- Two-thirds of Facebook users (66%) get news on the site, nearly six-in-ten Twitter users (59%) get news on Twitter, and seven-in-ten (70%) Reddit users get news on that platform.
Pew’s own summary emphasizes two additional findings:
The research was done in January and February and sampled more than 4,500 adults.
