The fact that more people obtain their news through social media may not be surprising. What may be surprising is the fast growth of social media as news channels.
Almost two-thirds of adult Americans get their news on social media — 18% do so frequently, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center. That’s up significantly from 2012 when almost half of U.S. adults said they saw news on social media.
Reddit is a favorite news source. Seven out of 10 Reddit users say they get news on that platform. Facebook is a news source for 66% of its users, and Twitter for 59%. People read news less frequently on other networks.
Although Redditors read news most, Facebook, visited by 44% of the population, is much more influential due to its enormous user base.
Facebook News Gains Traction
Facebook has seen the strongest growth as a news source. Its users who find news on the site increased 19% since 2013, the largest increase of any network.
The findings confirm the platform’s growth as a news channel since recent expansion of Instant Articles and its Trending Topics sidebar launched in 2014.
The data underscore the growing importance of social media as a news source. PR pros who ignore the trend are probably missing a significant opportunity. Placing and promoting news stories on social media has rapidly become a must-have media relations strategy.
The research also highlights the value of paid advertising, says Lara Thomas at Ink House PR. Because Facebook caps the number of people that see stories organically, paid amplification may be needed to win more engagement and views.
The research also explains why some people are nervous about what the trend could mean for journalism and for impartial reporting. “It will be interesting to see how these things shake out in the coming months and years, and how journalism will continue to evolve,” Thomas notes.
Charges of Bias Emerge
Technology blog Gizmodo recently alleged that Facebook editors deliberately dropped conservative viewpoints and news from conservative news outlets off its Trends sidebar and inserted liberal topics of their own choosing. The “news curators” prevented stories about Mitt Romney, Rand Paul and other conservative topics from appearing in the highly-influential section even though they were organically trending among the site’s users, Gizmodo contended.
Facebook vehemently denied the charge and released a 28-page internal document detailing how its computer algorithms and news editors select news stories. In response to a letter Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, asking for more information, Facebook said its investigation found no evidence of systematic political bias.
Still, Facebook said it introduced new measures aimed at improving the feature and minimizing the risk of human bias.
As its influence continues to grow, the network will probably face more scrutiny and complaints about its news article selections.
Network Differences
The Pew research reveals differences between networks that may aid PR and marketing campaigns.
Users of Facebook as well as YouTube and Instagram, are more likely to happen on news stories by chance. Users on Twitter, LinkedIn and Reddit are roughly divided between active and passive news seekers.
The networking sites tend to appeal to different demographics. For instance, Instagram news consumers tend to be non-white and young.
Consumers still obtain news from a range of other sources. Across the five sites with the biggest news audiences, roughly two-in-ten news users of each also get news from nightly network television news, and about three-in-ten from local TV.
Bottom Line: A new survey highlights the continuing growth of social media as a news source. The trend has important implications for the future of journalism and media relations. Instead of merely pitching the areas newspapers, PR will increasingly emphasize social media.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
