For as much time as many of us who spend time on Facebook, I find it a surprise that recent numbers from the Pew Research Center show that less than half of Facebook users seek out the latest news via the social network. Here are a few words from the PRC about the study:
Most U.S. adults do not go to Facebook seeking news out, the nationally representative online survey of 5,173 adults finds. Instead, the vast majority of Facebook news consumers, 78%, get news when they are on Facebook for other reasons. And just 4% say it is the most important way they get news. As one respondent summed it up, “I believe Facebook is a good way to find out news without actually looking for it.”
The study may be a bit lopsided as it does mention that some felt that Facebook can be a good place to get news without looking for it, so therefore they didn’t feel inclined to vote strongly in favor for Facebook as a news outlet.
According to the graph (shown above), Facebook does fare well against the other social networks as a source of news. No surprise that Twitter eeks out the network by a few percent. The biggest surprise to me was that Reddit was at 62%. Although, that’s probably due to the network being in such a niche.
What social network do you use the most as your source of news?
Source: Statista
