Social Media and News Fact Sheet

When looking at the proportion of each social media site’s users who regularly get news there, some sites stand out as having a greater portion of users turning to the site for news even if their total audience is relatively small. For example, while Twitter is used by about three-in-ten U.S. adults (27%), about half of its users (53%) turn to the site to regularly get news there. On the other hand, roughly the same share of adults (31%) use LinkedIn, but only 13% of its users regularly get news on the site.

Social media sites by portion of users who regularly get news there

In many cases, there are demographic differences between the people who turn to each social media site regularly for news. On several of the social media sites we asked about, adults under 30 make up the largest share of those who regularly get news on the site. For example, half or more of regular news consumers on Snapchat (67%), TikTok (52%) and Reddit (50%) are ages 18 to 29. Additionally, women make up a greater portion of regular news consumers on Facebook, while the opposite is true for sites like Twitter and Reddit.

Some partisan differences also arise when it comes to who regularly gets news on some social media sites. The majority of regular news consumers on many sites are Democrats or lean Democratic. No social media site included here has regular news consumers who are more likely to be Republicans or lean Republican. (See Appendix for data on U.S. adults in each demographic group who regularly get news from each social media site.)

Demographic profiles and party identification of regular social media news consumers in the U.S.

CORRECTION: (Sept. 23, 2022): The charts in this fact sheet were updated to correct an error in the stated field dates for the data’s underlying survey. The updated text should read: “Source: Survey of U.S. adults conducted July 18 – Aug. 21, 2022.” These changes do not affect the fact sheet’s overall findings.

Find out more

This fact sheet was compiled by Research Assistant Jacob Liedke and Associate Director Katerina Eva Matsa.

Read the methodology and the topline.

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This is the latest report in Pew Research Center’s ongoing investigation of the state of news, information and journalism in the digital age, a research program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Follow these links for more in-depth analysis of news consumption:

News Platform Fact Sheet, Sept. 20, 2022.

Nearly a quarter of Americans get news from podcasts, Feb. 15, 2022

Attention to COVID-19 news increased slightly amid omicron surge; partisans differ in views about the outbreak, Jan. 27, 2022

News on Twitter: Consumed by Most Users and Trusted by Many, Nov. 15, 2021

Americans who relied most on Trump for COVID-19 news among least likely to be vaccinated, Sept. 23, 2021

About four-in-ten Americans say social media is an important way of following COVID-19 vaccine news, Aug. 24, 2021

How Americans Navigated the News in 2020: A Tumultuous Year in Review, Feb. 22, 2021

More than eight-in-ten Americans get news from digital devices, Jan. 12, 2021

Measuring News Consumption in a Digital Era, Dec. 8, 2020

Many Americans Get News on YouTube, Where News Organizations and Independent Producers Thrive Side by Side, Sept. 28, 2020

Americans Who Mainly Get Their News on Social Media Are Less Engaged, Less Knowledgeable, July 30, 2020