Social media is one of the go-to news sources in the United States – over one third of U.S. adults responding to a 2022 survey got their news from social media platforms every day, and a further 22 percent did so a few times or at least once per week. After the surge in social media news consumption in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, daily engagement fell in 2021, but the increase the following year suggests that daily news access on social networks could continue to grow in years to come.

The most popular social sites for news

An annual report surveying U.S. adults from 2019 to 2022 revealed that Facebook was the most popular social network used for news, followed by YouTube. Important to note here though is that TikTok was not included in the survey question for those years, a platform increasingly popular with younger generations. Whilst the share of adults regularly using TikTok for news aged 50 years or above was just five percent, among those aged between 18 and 29 years the figure was over five times higher.

Meanwhile, Twitter is journalists’ preferred social media site, with the share who use Twitter for their job at almost 70 percent. Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter however, some journalists raised concerns about the future of free speech on the platform.

Gen Z and social media news consumption

A 2022 survey found that half of all Gen Z respondents used social media for news every day. Gen Z is driving growth in social media news usage, a trend which will continue if the younger consumers belonging to this generation increase their engagement with news as they age.

During a 2025 survey, ** percent of respondents from Nigeria stated that they used social media as a source of news. In comparison, just ** percent of Japanese respondents said the same. Large portions of social media users around the world admit that they do not trust social platforms either as media sources or as a way to get news, and yet they continue to access such networks on a daily basis. Social media: trust and consumption Despite the majority of adults surveyed in each country reporting that they used social networks to keep up to date with news and current affairs, a 2018 study showed that social media is the least trusted news source in the world. Less than ** percent of adults in Europe considered social networks to be trustworthy in this respect, yet more than ** percent of adults in Portugal, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia said that they got their news on social media. What is clear is that we live in an era where social media is such an enormous part of daily life that consumers will still use it in spite of their doubts or reservations. Concerns about fake news and propaganda on social media have not stopped billions of users accessing their favorite networks on a daily basis. Most Millennials in the United States use social media for news every day, and younger consumers in European countries are much more likely to use social networks for national political news than their older peers. Like it or not, reading news on social is fast becoming the norm for younger generations, and this form of news consumption will likely increase further regardless of whether consumers fully trust their chosen network or not.

According to a survey conducted in 2023, 20 percent of adults in the United States who used social media to get news stated that convenience was their main reason for doing so. Speed and interaction with people were the two next most popular reasons for using social networking platforms as a source of news, accounting for nine and six percent of respondents, respectively. Smaller shares of adults said they liked that the news was up-to-date, the content or format, and the variety of sources or stories available. Overall, seven percent of U.S. adults who got their news on social media said they did not like anything about the experience.

Social media was by far the most popular news platform among 18 to 34-year-olds in the United States, with 47 percent of respondents to a survey held in August 2022 saying that they used social networks for news on a daily basis. By comparison, adults over 65 years old mostly used network news to keep up to date.

The decline of newspapers In the past, the reasons to regularly go out and purchase a print newspaper were many. Used not only for news but also apartment hunting, entertainment, and job searches (among other things), newspapers once served multiple purposes. This is no longer the case, with first television and then the internet taking care of consumer needs once covered by printed papers. Indeed, the paid circulation of daily weekday newspapers in the United States has fallen dramatically since the 1980s with no sign of future improvement.

News consumption habits

A survey on news consumption by gender found that 50 percent of women use either online-only news sites or social media for news each day, and 51 percent of male respondents said the same. Social media was by far the most used daily news platform among U.S. Millennials, and the same was true of Gen Z. One appeal of online news is that it often comes at no cost to the consumer. Paying for news found via digital outlets is not yet commonplace in the United States, with only 21 percent of U.S. consumers responding to a study held in early 2021 reporting having paid for online news content in the last year.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in August 2024, 36 percent of respondents had used YouTube for election news in the previous four weeks, whilst 32 percent had used Facebook. Overall, one in five respondents had used Donald Trump's Truth Social for news surrounding the 2024 Presidential election.

In a survey conducted in May 2025, journalism was rated the most positively by U.S. adults, with 54 percent describing it as very or somewhat favorable. Social media followed with 49 percent favorable, though a notable share of respondents also held negative views. The news media and the press were rated less positively, at 47 and 46 percent, respectively. Overall, the findings suggest stronger confidence in journalism compared to other media institutions.

TikTok news consumption is on the rise. Back in 2020, just three percent of respondents to a survey held in the United States stated that they regularly got their news from TikTok. By 2024, this figure had increased almost sixfold to 17 percent. Younger adults – those aged between 18 and 29 years old – are the most frequent TikTok news users, with almost 40 percent getting news there on a regular basis, double that of adults between 30 and 49 years and more than ten times the share of adults aged 65 and above. The rise of TikTok as a news source TikTok’s penetration rate in the U.S. is highest among adults aged between 18 and 24 years. More than three quarters of consumers in this age bracket use the platform, and for teens aged between 12 and 17 years, the figure was similarly high at almost 70 percent. These young users are those driving TikTok’s growing popularity as a news source. Whilst X (formerly known as Twitter) remains the most used social network for news, TikTok is rapidly catching up. Alongside Facebook, TikTok now ranks as the second most popular social media site for news consumption, with 43 percent of U.S. adults regularly using each platform to keep up to date, and TikTok is set to overtake Facebook in the next year in this respect. The share of U.S. adults using Facebook for news fell consistently in every year from 2020 to 2023, whereas in the same time period, the share getting news via TikTok almost doubled. The most popular news publishers on TikTok According to the most recently available data, the leading news publisher on TikTok in the U.S. is socially native brand NowThis, with 5.5 million followers. Targeting left-leaning younger consumers, NowThis describes itself as social media’s number one video news brand. Ranking second, third, and fourth respectively are broadcast TV news outlets ABC, NBC, and CBS with between three and five million followers. Meanwhile, left-leaning cable network CNN had less success with a follower count of under 1.5 million.

A study held in 2025 revealed that ** percent of X (formerly known as Twitter) users regularly used X for news. By contrast, users of major platforms Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube were less inclined to get their news from those sites, though usage of TikTok for news increased to ** percent in 2025 compared to 2020, with the platform especially popular among younger audiences.

A survey held in the United States in 2023 revealed that 40 percent of responding adults said that what they disliked most about getting news on social media was the fact that the news is inaccurate, an increase of nine percent from 2018. Other reasons given were low-quality news or other people's behavior. Social media news consumption is complex With inaccurate news being the main reason consumers dislike news via social networks, the issue of trust also comes into play. Whilst fake and manipulated content can circulate on any platform, social media platforms can exacerbate the matter, with written posts, video footage, and audio easily shared and disseminated at the click of a button. TikTok in particular, with its focus on short-form snappy content, ranked poorly in terms of trusted social networks - 50 percent of U.S. adults responding to a survey considered the platform very untrustworthy. What are the positives of news found on social media? Data from 2023 showed that 20 percent of adults in the United States who used social media to get news stated that convenience was their main reason for doing so. Speed and interaction with people were the two next most popular reasons for using social networking platforms as a source of news. Even so, the majority (more than a third) of respondents said they did not know why they liked getting news on social networks or did not answer. This speaks to the complex relationship the public now has with social media – its convenience, as well as its prevalence in users’ everyday lives, means that it can often be difficult to avoid using it. However, when it comes to news, users remain unsure.

In May 2025, a survey asked U.S. adults how they feel while consuming news. The results indicate that a majority feel informed, with 53 percent saying that news generally makes them feel this way. At the same time, 43 percent reported feeling angry, and 32 percent said they feel depressed when consuming news. In contrast, only 16 percent described feeling hopeful. These findings highlight that while staying informed is a major benefit of news consumption, negative emotional reactions—such as anger and depression—are also very common among Americans.

According to data gathered in a survey held in 2024, ** percent of responding U.S. adults said that they got their news from social media often, the highest recorded in the time period shown. After a growth of people who claimed to never get news from social media from ** percent in 2020 to 32 percent in 2021, this share dropped back to ** percent in 2024.

A global survey conducted in the third quarter of 2024 found that the main reason for using social media was to keep in touch with friends and family, with over 50.8 percent of social media users saying this was their main reason for using online networks. Overall, 39 percent of social media users said that filling spare time was their main reason for using social media platforms, whilst 34.5 percent of respondents said they used it to read news stories. Less than one in five users were on social platforms for the reason of following celebrities and influencers.

              The most popular social network

              Facebook dominates the social media landscape. The world's most popular social media platform turned 20 in February 2024, and it continues to lead the way in terms of user numbers. As of February 2025, the social network had over three billion global users. YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp follow, but none of these well-known brands can surpass Facebook’s audience size.
              Moreover, as of the final quarter of 2023, there were almost four billion Meta product users.

              Ever-evolving social media usage

              The utilization of social media remains largely gratuitous; however, companies have been encouraging users to become paid subscribers to reduce dependence on advertising profits. Meta Verified entices users by offering a blue verification badge and proactive account protection, among other things. X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, and Reddit also offer users the chance to upgrade their social media accounts for a monthly free.

According to a survey conducted in May 2025, 56 percent of adults in the United States said they actively seek out news, while 35 percent reported that news usually comes to them. A smaller share were unsure about their news consumption habits.

According to a November 2022 survey, ** percent of adults in the United States said that limiting fake news was a major reason for trusting the social media platforms that they used. Additionally, ********* of respondents said that their friends or family using the platform was a major reason they trusted the online networks of their choice. Moreover, ** percent of users reported fewer adverts as a major reason for trusting social media platforms, whilst ** percent stated this was a minor reason.

An online survey conducted in the United States in November 2021 found that ** percent of respondents said people have little control over the things they see on social media sites, whilst a third said that users have no control over what they see. Overall, just *** in *** respondents stated that they felt social media users had a lot of control over what content they see in their social media news feeds.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in August 2024, five percent of white social media users utilized Truth Social for election news. Additionally, two percent of Black social media users accessed the platform for election updates, as well as five percent of Hispanic social media users.

Data from a survey held in August 2022 in the United States revealed that the most popular news source among millennials was social media, with 45 percent of respondents reporting daily news consumption on social networks. This was more than double the share who got their news via radio. When it comes to trust, though, social media does not fare well.

Social media and news consumption

As adults of all ages spend more and more time on social media, news consumption via this avenue is likely to increase, but something which could affect this trend is the lack of trust in the news consumers encounter on social platforms. Although now the preferred option for younger audiences, social networks are among the least trusted news sources in the United States, and concerns about fake news remain prevalent.

Young audiences and fake news

Inaccurate news is a major problem which worsened during the 2016 and 2020 presidential election campaigns and the COVID-19 pandemic. A global study found that most Gen Z and Millennial news consumers ignored fake coronavirus news on social media, but almost 20 percent interacted with such posts in the comments section, and over seven percent shared the content. Younger news consumers in the United States were also the most likely to report feeling overwhelmed by COVID-19 news. As younger audiences were the most likely to get their updates on the outbreak via social media, this also made them the most susceptible to fake news, and younger generations are also the most prone to ‘doomscrolling’, an addictive act where the reader pursues and digests multiple negative or upsetting news articles in one sitting.

Americans are spending more time than ever consuming media, with projections indicating a continued upward trend. In 2023, the average daily time spent with major media formats, including television, newspapers, magazines, radio, and digital platforms, reached ** hours and ** minutes. This figure is expected to surpass ** hours and ** minutes by 2026, highlighting the growing role of media in daily life. Digital media dominates consumption The increase in overall media consumption is largely driven by digital platforms. By 2025, U.S. consumers are anticipated to spend nearly * hours per day with digital media alone. This shift towards digital formats was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a sharp increase in the usage of streaming services and e-books. Today the digital media thrives because of mobile internet and smart TVs, and it is likely to continue on this path as consumers are still looking for ease of access and on-the-go experiences. Generational differences in media habits While television remains the primary device among the general population, younger demographics show different media device preferences. A March 2024 study revealed that ** percent of adults in the United States used mainly the TV for entertainment purposes. However, for those aged 18 to 34, smartphones were the primary device of choice. This generational divide in media consumption habits underscores the evolving landscape of entertainment and the growing importance of mobile devices in capturing younger audiences.

A 2025 survey found that around one in four adults in the United States actively avoided news related to sports, followed by entertainment (18 percent) and lifestyle (17 percent). In contrast, health was the least avoided news topic, with just four percent of respondents saying they ignored it.

In April 2025, the news website with the most monthly visits in the United States was nytimes.com, with a total of ***** million monthly visits in that month. In second place was cnn.com with just over *** million visits, followed by foxnews.com with almost a ****** of a million. Online news consumption in the U.S. Americans get their news in a variety of ways, but social media is an increasingly popular option. A survey on social media news consumption revealed that ** percent of Twitter users regularly used the site for news, and Facebook and Reddit were also popular for news among their users. Interestingly though, social media is the least trusted news sources in the United States. News and trust Trust in news sources has become increasingly important to the American news consumer amidst the spread of fake news, and the public are more vocal about whether or not they have faith in a source to report news correctly. Ongoing discussions about the credibility, accuracy and bias of news networks, anchors, TV show hosts, and news media professionals mean that those looking to keep up to date tend to be more cautious than ever before. In general, news audiences are skeptical. In 2020, just **** percent of respondents to a survey investigating the perceived objectivity of the mass media reported having a great deal of trust in the media to report news fully, accurately, and fairly.