In brief: Americans are slowly turning to outlets other than social media for news. In its latest survey, Pew Research Center found that 48 percent of US adults say they get news from social media "often" or "sometimes," representing a five percent decline compared to 2020.
It should come as little surprise that Facebook leads the pack by a sizable margin. In a separate question asking social media users where they get news from, 31 percent said they regularly gather news on Facebook.
Roughly one in five Americans (22 percent) said they turn to YouTube for news, while fewer than one in 10 Americans get news from Reddit (seven percent), TikTok (six percent), Snapchat (four percent), LinkedIn (four percent), WhatsApp (three percent) and Twitch (one percent).
Pew also found that the majority of social media news gatherers are Democrats or lead Democratic. In fact, across eight of the leading social media sites, Democrats outweigh Republicans every time.
That said, we're curious about how our own readers gather news. I mostly stick to established, dedicated news sites for my reading. Occasionally, a headline on social media might catch my attention, but instead of following the link, I'll take the headline and go to a trusted news site to research further.
In my mind, this helps to curb misinformation. If I find something sensational on social yet there's no mention about it in the major press, odds are, it's not real. The built-in BS meter in my brain also plays a bit role in helping to weed out the junk. How about you?
Masthead credit cottonbro