A new survey has found that most United States residents get their news off of social media platforms. Out of all of them, Twitter and Facebook have proven to be the most popular ones, and the number of people who turn to them for information on what’s happening in the world in constantly on the rise.
The results showed that Twitter was the first choice of Americans who want to follow news stories, with Facebook coming in at second place, but still far behind the microblog. The authors of the report wrote that the number of users who said that they follow the news on Twitter is almost twice as high as the number of users who said that they follow the news on Facebook.
Statistically speaking, 59 percent (59%) of all participants have said that they use Twitter, while only 31 percent (31%) of all participants have said that they use Facebook for breaking news. The working theory is that Twitter’s great advantage can be found in its ability to provide “as-it-happens coverage” and live commentary on events that are still running their course.
But when Twitter and Facebook users were looked at separately, 63 percent (63%) of Twitter users, and 63 percent (63%) of Facebook users answered that they get news related to ongoing event and current problems off of these social media platforms.
For comparison, in a previous survey from 2013, only 52 percent (53%) of Twitter users, and 47 percent (47%) of Facebook users answered that they got news related to ongoing event and current problems off of these social media platforms.
When they were shown a list of eleven (11) topics, Twitter users were much more likely to answer that they saw news about at least four (4) of them, when compared to Facebook users.
The most popular topics were national government and politics with 72 percent (73%) of Twitter users and 61 percent (61%) of Facebook users, sports with 70 percent (70%) of Twitter users and 55 percent (55%) of Facebook users, international affairs with 63 percent (63%) of Twitter users and 51 percent (51%) of Facebook users and business with 55 percent (55%) of Twitter users and 42 percent (42%) of Facebook users.
The number of users under the age of 35 who follow news on Twitter grew by 55 percent (55%) for men and 67 percent (67%) for women, while the number of users over the age of 35 who follow news on Twitter grew by 47 percent (47%) for men and 59 percent (59%) for women.
The survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the result were released just yesterday (July 14, 2015). The report was written by Elisa Shearer, Michael Barthel, Amy Mitchell and Jeffrey Gottfried.
Image Source: niemanlab.org
