Social Media & the News

About a quarter of all U.S. adults get news from two or more social media sites, up from 15% in 2013 and 18% in 2016.

News stories about the beginning of Trump administration’s presidency that included one of his tweets were more likely to have an overall negative assessment.

Read 10 key findings from recent Pew Research Center reports about today’s digital news media landscape.

Overall, 36% of Americans get science news at least a few times a week and three-in-ten actively seek it. Most get science news from general news outlets, but more see specialty sources as being accurate.

Today, 67% of U.S. adults get at least some news on social media. Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat serve as sources of news for more of their users, though Facebook still leads as a source of news for Americans.

Many experts fear uncivil and manipulative behaviors on the internet will persist – and may get worse.

A unique study of Americans’ online news habits over the course of a week provides a detailed window into how Americans learn about current events in the digital age.

Trump voters named one source more than any other as their main source of election news, whereas Clinton voters were spread across an array of sources.

About two-in-three U.S. adults say fake news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues. And nearly a quarter say they have ever shared completely made-up news.

A quarter of U.S. adults (24%) turn to social media posts from either the Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump campaigns as a way of keeping up with the election, while 10% turn to their websites and 9% turn to emails.