Research recently published by Pew Research Center reveals that some 8% of Americans receive their news on Twitter; the study follows up on findings on the subject of how 30% of Americans get their news on Facebook. While the figure of 8% may not seem significant, the details are where things become interesting. The first interesting wrinkle in the finding is that the population getting their news from Twitter instead of Facebook is younger, more educated, and more mobile.
There are other differences in the ways that the two groups consume news. For example, on Twitter, 85% of users read the news on mobile devices “at least sometimes,” which is a greater percentage than Facebook users (the Pew report on Facebook showed that 64% of the users queried answered that question the same way). The study doesn’t address whether Twitter users are accidental consumers—as the Facebook study found—or whether the consumption of news through the social media platform is intentional.
What it does address, however, is the important demographic details. 45% of those who consume news on Twitter are between the ages of 18 and 29, with only 2% in the 65+ age category. The survey also indicated that the individuals who are getting their news from Twitter are in general more educated than those who are picking it up from Facebook. Alongside the survey, a series of analyses on Twitter conversations related to major news events provides some context.
The report was based on a survey of some 5,000 American adults; the big reveal is that Twitter is the more popular platform for breaking news than sharing opinions—and that sentiments shift rapidly. Of course, the nature of Twitter makes it the sensible platform for the fast-paced needs of news reporting; the strict word limit means that it lends itself well to headlines and links out to larger pieces, where the longer-form, less-strict Facebook paradigm makes it more prone to editorial content.
The report is part of a series of studies analyzing the relationship between social media and news—and can be found here.
