How people discover, share, discuss and interact with news on social platforms; a compilation of findings from several years of Pew Research Center data.

1. Social Media and News:
Key Trends in Networked Information
Jesse Holcomb
Associate Director, Journalism Research
Pew Research Center
@jesseholcomb

2. December 9, 2015 2www.pewresearch.org
The online experience is also
a social experience

3. December 9, 2015 3www.pewresearch.org
News is a growing part of the social web

4. December 9, 2015 4www.pewresearch.org
Not all social networks are alike for news

5. December 9, 2015 5www.pewresearch.org
Facebook
• Ambient
• Less of a discovery platform
• Family and friends

6. December 9, 2015 6www.pewresearch.org/journalism
An ambient news experience
• 78% of Facebook
news users mostly
see news when on
Facebook for other
reasons
• 34% of Facebook
news consumers
“like” a news
organization or
individual journalist

7. December 9, 2015 7www.pewresearch.org
News you would have seen elsewhere
“I believe Facebook is a good way
to find out news without actually
looking for it.”
75% of Facebook news
consumers say the news they see
there is mostly news they also see
in other places

8. December 9, 2015 8www.pewresearch.org
Close ties — not strangers —
are key influencers

9. December 9, 2015 9www.pewresearch.org
Twitter
• Breaking news events
• Wide range of exposure
• Narrow/enthusiast

10. December 9, 2015 10www.pewresearch.org
Twitter users more likely to use service
for breaking news

11. December 9, 2015 11www.pewresearch.org
Wide range of exposure

12. December 9, 2015 12www.pewresearch.org
Limited adoption
• Just one-in-ten U.S. adults gets news on
Twitter (vs. four-in-ten on Facebook).
• Case study: found local news on Twitter
is needle in a haystack. In Denver, top
local story appeared 327 times out of 3+
million tweets.

13. December 9, 2015 13www.pewresearch.org
Other social networks display
different news patterns, too

14. December 9, 2015 14www.pewresearch.org
Beyond Ferguson: Social media is key
venue for the national political conversation

15. December 9, 2015 15www.pewresearch.org
Are social media creating a filter effect?

16. December 9, 2015 16www.pewresearch.org
Opinions expressed on Twitter often differ from
broad public opinion

17. December 9, 2015 17www.pewresearch.org
Yet, social media creates
new pathways to participation

18. December 9, 2015 18www.pewresearch.org
Audiences for News on
Each Social Platform Differ

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Can bridge the gap
with less connected populations
• Case study: In Macon, twice as many
blacks (12%) as whites (6%) say social
media is the most important way they keep
up with local news.

20. December 9, 2015 20www.pewresearch.org
If social media is a key pathway to news, what’s our
pathway to social?

21. December 9, 2015 21www.pewresearch.org
An additive effect: What has become of
legacy platforms?

22. December 9, 2015 22www.pewresearch.org
Biggest challenge is generational

23. December 9, 2015 23www.pewresearch.org
Digital revolution is uneven

24. Social Media and News:
Key Trends in Networked Information
Jesse Holcomb
Associate Director, Journalism Research
Pew Research Center
@jesseholcomb