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Social media has become one of the most popular sources of news and information for adults, with nearly two-thirds of Americans getting their news from sites like Facebook and Twitter. But how much of this news is actually trustworthy?
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Introduction
A 2017 Pew Research Center study found that 62% of American adults get their news from social media. This is a significant increase from the 49% who said they did so in 2016. The study also found that 18% of adults get their news from Facebook, which is up from 15% in 2016.
Social Media as a News Source
In the past, people would get their news from the newspaper or from the evening news. Today, people are getting their news from social media. A study done in 2018 found that 62% of adults in the United States get their news from social media. That is up from 49% in 2016.
Although Facebook is not originally a news website, more and more people are using it as their primary source of news. In fact, a recent study found that 62 percent of U.S. adults get their news from social media, and that Facebook is the most popular platform for doing so.
The study, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found that 67 percent of Facebook users get their news on the site. That’s compared to 49 percent of users who get their news from Twitter, and 37 percent who get their news from LinkedIn.
Interestingly, the study also found that younger adults are more likely to get their news from social media than older adults. Seventy-four percent of 18- to 29-year-olds get their news from social media, compared to just 56 percent of those aged 30 and older.
So why is Facebook such a popular source of news? There are a few reasons. First, Facebook’s algorithm makes it easy to find articles and stories that you’re interested in. The algorithm is constantly learning what kinds of things you like and sharing more of those kinds of things with you in your News Feed.
Second, Facebook has built up a large network of publishers who post their stories directly to the site. This means that you’re likely to see articles from a variety of different sources, not just the ones that you follow or have “liked” on Facebook.
And finally, Facebook has made it easy to share articles with your friends and family members. With just a few clicks, you can share an article with anyone on Facebook, which makes it a great way to start a conversation or get another person’s opinion on a story.
Twitter has 313 million monthly users as of 2016. More than 80 percent of Twitter users worldwide access the site via mobile devices. In the United States, almost 60 percent of Twitter users get their news from the site. The Pew Research Center reported in December 2016 that, for the first time, more U.S. adults said they had gotten news from social media (62 percent) than from any other source except for television (67 percent).
LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals. LinkedIn is also a place where people can go to consume news and information about their industry, as well as learn about new products, services, and trends.
A recent study found that LinkedIn is the most trusted source of news for adults in the United States. The study, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center, found that nearly 60% of American adults say they get their news from LinkedIn.
This is significant because it shows that people are increasingly turning to social media sites like LinkedIn for their news and information needs. This is likely due to the fact that social media sites offer a more personalised and targeted experience than traditional news sources like newspapers or television.
It is also important to note that LinkedIn is not just a source of news for adults. The site is also popular with younger users. In fact, the Pew Research Center study found that LinkedIn is the second most popular source of news for people aged 18-29.
While originally created as a platform for sharing photos and short videos, Instagram has become one of the most popular social media networks for news consumption. A study from the Pew Research Center found that, as of 2018, 26 percent of U.S. adults get their news from Instagram. This is up from 18 percent in 2016.
Instagram is especially popular among younger adults. The Pew Research Center found that 41 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 say they get their news from Instagram. This is more than any other age group except for those 30 to 49, who are slightly more likely to get their news from this social media platform (35 percent).
There are a number of reasons why Instagram has become such a popular news source, especially among young adults. For one, the platform is extremely visual, which can make complex stories more accessible and enjoyable to consume. In addition, users can follow the accounts of their favorite news organizations and journalists, making it easy to keep up with the latest stories. Finally, the algorithm that determines which posts users see in their feed is often tailored to their specific interests, meaning that users are likely to see content that is relevant to them.
The Impact of Social Media on News Consumption
In the past decade, social media has become one of the most popular sources of news for adults. A recent study found that 62% of adults get their news from social media. This is a significant increase from the 20% of adults who said they got their news from social media in 2010. The study also found that social media is the second most popular source of news for adults, after television.
Attention Spans
How much time do you spend on social media sites? How many times a day do you check your various accounts? Social media has become such a integral part of our lives that it’s hard to imagine living without it.
But there’s a downside to all this social media use: it might be making us dumber. A study released in September 2013 found that people who read frequently on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have lower attention spans than those who don’t.
The study, conducted by Microsoft Canada, looked at 1,400 Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34. They found that the average attention span has gone down from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013—that’s less than the attention span of a goldfish, which is 9 seconds.
The researchers attributed this drop in attention span to the way we consume news on social media sites. When we read news on these sites, we tend to skim rather than read deeply. We jump from one story to the next, and our brains become used to digesting information in small snippets.
This can have harmful consequences for how we process information and make decisions. When we’re constantly bombarded with tiny pieces of information, we have trouble putting them all together to form a coherent picture. We become less able to empathize with others and see things from their perspective. And we have trouble making long-term decisions because we can only focus on the here and now.
So if you want to improve your attention span, consider taking a break from social media—or at least cut down on your usage. It might just make you smarter.
The Role of Algorithms
A growing body of evidence suggests that the algorithms used by social media platforms to filter and curate content have a significant impact on the news that users see. A 2017 study from the Pew Research Center found that 62% of Facebook users get some form of news from the platform, and that 18% of users get their news “mostly” from Facebook. The study also found that, for a variety of reasons, Facebook users were more likely than users of other social media platforms to see diverse perspectives on news stories.
A 2018 study from the Pew Research Center looked at how social media platform algorithms affected the spread of misinformation during two major political events in 2017 – the French presidential election and the special election for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. The study found that during both events, content from partisan outlets was amplified by algorithms, while content from more traditional news sources was largely suppressed.
These findings suggest that social media platforms have a significant impact on the news that users see, and that algorithms play a major role in shaping what content is presented to users.
The Spread of Misinformation
One of the challenges for social media platforms is addressing the spread of false or misleading information. Fake news stories are often spread through social media, which can have a negative impact on people’s perceptions of current events. While social media can be a powerful tool for sharing news and information, it can also be used to spread misinformation.
A study by the Pew Research Center found that 62% of adults in the United States get their news from social media. This is up from 49% in 2016 and 35% in 2013. The study also found that 18% of adults say they always or often get their news from social media, while 44% say they sometimes do.
The study found that Facebook is the most popular social media platform for news, with 45% of adults saying they get their news from Facebook. This is followed by YouTube (17%), Twitter (12%), Snapchat (7%) and Instagram (6%).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that social media has become a significant source of news for adults in the United States. While the exact percentage of adults who get their news from social media varies depending on the source, it is safe to say that a significant portion of the adult population in the US gets at least some of its news from social media platforms.
