Facebook may be getting ready to exit the news business, but it remains Americans' No. 1 news source on social media. A new report finds that 30% of U.S. adults say they regularly get news from Meta-owned sites. YouTube followed with 26%, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.
When Pew researchers dug into users of each social network site, they found that some users choose to get their news on their platforms -- even if the sites' user bases overall are relatively small. For example, more than half of X users say they often get news there. (The report also found that 70% of U.S. adults are aware that Twitter has changed its name).
Instagram, Nextdoor and TikTok are on the rise in terms of the number of users who regularly get news. This year, 43% of TikTok users said they often get news from the site, compared with just 22% in 2020.
More than half of Americans (56%) say they regularly get news from a digital device such as a phone, computer or tablet, up from 49% in 2022. Over the past year, a relatively consistent share of Americans said they often got their news from television (about 30%), print (about 10%), and radio (about 15%).
There are demographic differences between different groups of users who frequently get their news from specific social media sites.
"Women make up a larger share of regular news consumers on Nextdoor (66%), Facebook (62%), Instagram (59%) and TikTok (58%), while men make up a larger share of regular news consumers on sites like Reddit (67%), X (62%) and YouTube (58%)," the report states.