Social media has been a prominent place for news consumption in recent years. Now, we know just how many people get information from Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, among others.
According to new data from Pew Research Center, 54% of those surveyed said they “sometimes” or “often” get news from social media.
33% said they use Facebook for news, which is down from the 36% who responded similarly in 2020. YouTube, however has seen a large uptick from 23% in 2020 to 32% in 2024.
“Facebook and YouTube outpace all other social media sites as places where Americans regularly get news. About a third of U.S. adults say they regularly get news on each of these two sites,” the data from Pew suggested.
The biggest jump came from TikTok. In 2020, only 3% of respondents said they were using the app for news. Now, that figure is 17%.
About half of TikTok users (52%) say they regularly get news on the site, up from 43% in 2023 and just 22% in 2020, the data from Pew shows. 45% of those between the ages of 18-29 use TikTok for news.
Overall, men were more likely to use Reddit (68%), X (64%), and YouTube (57%) as regular news sources. Meanwhile, women favored TikTok (62%), Facebook (60%), and Instagram (59%) for their news content.
