Report: One in Five Americans Get News From Social Media Influencers

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • A new report by Pew Research Center released on Monday shows that, of nearly 10.7K US adults surveyed, 21% claimed to 'regularly' receive news from social media influencers, including 37% of those under 30 and 26% of those 30-49.[1]
  • It found that 65% of those who regularly consume news from influencers claimed they 'helped them better understand current events and civic issues,' while 31% felt a personal connection with an influencer.[2]
  • Of the 500 news influencers studied — each with over 100K followers — 77% neither worked for a news organization nor had any professional experience in the industry. The report also detailed that 63% of the 500 were men, while 30% were women.[3][2]
  • 27% of influencers identified as right-leaning, 21% as left-leaning, and 48% had no clear affiliation. Tik Tok was the only platform on which explicitly left-leaning influencers outnumbered their right leaning counterparts, 28% to 25%.[2][4]
  • 85% of news influencers had a presence on X, compared to 50% on Instagram, 44% on YouTube, 32% on Facebook, and 27% on TikTok. Approximately two-thirds of them were on more than one site, while 59% monetized their online platforms.[2]
  • This follows a Pew study in October that found 85% of US adults use YouTube, 70% Facebook, 50% Instagram, 33% TikTok, and 21% X. Meanwhile, the Reuters Institute's Digital News Report 2024 found that just 32% of Americans trust most news most of the time.[5][6]

Sources: [1]Press Gazette, [2]Pew Research Center (a), [3]Bloomberg, [4]NBC, [5]reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk and [6]Pew Research Center (b).

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by BostonGlobe.com and Wsj. As witnessed unapologetically by both the Trump and Harris campaigns this year, legacy media's importance is dwindling in the face of new digital alternatives. From Joe Rogan to Call Her Daddy, social media influencers and their podcasts are now dominating public discourse with viewership numbers that traditional outlets would die for in the modern landscape. For better or worse, news media is undergoing a generational transition that we must all try to keep up with.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Bloomberg and The Drum. There is hope that, despite mainstream media's recent decline, legacy news can restore the trust once placed in it and return common sense to the post-truth era currently encouraged by alternative social media. Transparency, accountability, and objectivity must be championed once again if society is to see a rejection of the polarization and fake news that now ravages our information landscape. The mainstream media must reform itself and win back public faith.

Predictions