• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, November 15, 2023

Facebook may minimize the importance of news on its site, but it wins over other social media networks when it comes to news consumption.  

Of all Americans, 19% consume news on social sites, 31% do so sometimes, 19% rarely and 31% never, according to Social Media and News Fact Sheet, a report by Pew Research Center. 

Last year, 17% said they often access news in social media, while 33% say sometimes, 20% rarely and 29% never. 

The consumption numbers are down from the pandemic year 2020, when 23% said they often consumer news on social networks. 

Americans regularly get news on these sites:

• Facebook—30% 
• YouTube—26% 
• Instagram—18% 
• TikTok—14% 
• X (Twitter)—12% 
• Reddit—8% 
• Nextdoow—5% 
• Snapchat—4%
• WhatsApp—3%’ 
• Twitch—1%

Among Facebook users, 31% have some college, 29% college+ and 39% have high school or less.  

But those with college+ are more likely than high school-level individuals to patronize X (Twitter)—by 44% to 28%.

Of the sites studied Facebook has seen a falloff in users who regularly get news there, from 54% in 2020 to 43% in 2023. 

In contrast, TikTok has seen a jump of 22% to 43% in that period. Instagram has gone from 28% to 34. X (Twitter) has fallen from 59% to 53%. Twitch has gone from 11% to 17%.

Meanwhile, 56% often get news from digital devices, up from 49% in 2022. And 30% get news from television, 15% from radio and 10% from print. These percentages are consistent with last year’s.  

This analysis is based on a survey of 8,842 panelists.