Social Media and Information Truth Sheet, 2024

Digital sources have turn out to be an necessary a part of Individuals’ information diets – with social media enjoying an important function, notably for youthful adults. General, simply over half of U.S. adults (54%) say they not less than typically get information from social media, up barely in contrast with the previous couple of years.

Fb and YouTube outpace all different social media websites as locations the place Individuals repeatedly get information. A few third of U.S. adults say they repeatedly get information on every of those two websites.

Smaller shares of Individuals repeatedly get information on Instagram (20%), TikTok (17%) or X, previously referred to as Twitter (12%). And even fewer get information on a number of different websites, together with Reddit (8%), Nextdoor (5%), Snapchat (5%), WhatsApp (5%), LinkedIn (4%), Fact Social (3%) and Rumble (2%).

Some social media websites – regardless of having comparatively small total audiences – stand out as locations for information amongst lots of their customers. For instance, 59% of X customers get information there, as do an identical share of customers on Fact Social (57%), the positioning owned by former President Donald Trump. Then again, solely 14% of LinkedIn customers repeatedly get information on that platform.

About half of TikTok customers (52%) say they repeatedly get information on the positioning, up from 43% in 2023 and simply 22% in 2020. The share of customers who get information additionally has risen on a number of different websites, together with YouTube and Instagram.

The individuals who repeatedly get information on completely different social media websites typically differ by gender, age, political get together and different elements. For instance, ladies make up larger parts of standard information customers on Nextdoor (64%), TikTok (62%), Fb (60%), Snapchat (60%) and Instagram (59%), whereas males make up larger shares on Reddit (68%), X (64%), Rumble (60%), Fact Social (58%) and YouTube (57%).

Information customers on Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, X and Reddit are usually youthful than these on different websites. Different patterns are distinctive to particular person websites. For example, 48% of reports customers on WhatsApp are Hispanic – a lot increased than on some other website. And LinkedIn has the most important portion of reports customers with a university diploma (55%).

There are also partisan variations amongst those that repeatedly get information on some social media websites. Overwhelming shares of standard information customers on Fact Social (88%) and Rumble (83%) are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents, as are half of these on Fb and YouTube. On Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok, Reddit and Nextdoor, information customers usually tend to be Democrats or Democratic leaners. X information customers are about evenly divided by get together.

(Learn the Appendix for information on the demographic and partisan make-up of U.S. adults who repeatedly get information from every social media website.)

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This truth sheet was compiled by Analysis Assistant Christopher St. Aubin and Analysis Analyst Jacob Liedke.

Learn the methodology and the topline.

Pew Analysis Middle is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its major funder. That is the newest evaluation in Pew Analysis Middle’s ongoing investigation of the state of reports, info and journalism within the digital age, a analysis program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with beneficiant assist from the John S. and James L. Knight Basis.

Observe these hyperlinks for extra in-depth evaluation of reports consumption on social media:

• Information Platform Truth Sheet (Sept. 17, 2024)
• About half of TikTok customers below 30 say they use it to maintain up with politics, information (Aug. 20, 2024)
• How Individuals Get Information on TikTok, X, Fb and Instagram (June 12, 2024)
• Many Individuals discover worth in getting information on social media, however considerations about inaccuracy have risen (Feb. 7, 2024)
• 5 information about how Individuals use Fb, 20 years after its launch (Feb. 2, 2024)
• Individuals are following the information much less intently than they used to (Oct. 24, 2023)
• U.S. adults below 30 now belief info from social media virtually as a lot as from nationwide information shops (Oct. 27, 2022)
• The Position of Different Social Media within the Information and Data Atmosphere (Oct. 6, 2022)
• Many Individuals Get Information on YouTube, The place Information Organizations and Unbiased Producers Thrive Facet by Facet (Sept. 28, 2020)

Learn all our reviews and weblog posts associated to information platforms and sources.

CORRECTION (Oct. 16, 2024): The topline for this survey beforehand included incorrect figures (seek advice from topline for particulars). These have been up to date within the topline and don’t have an effect on the general findings on this evaluation. Nothing on this web page has been modified.