More than nine in ten journalists in the United States (94%) use social media for their jobs, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey of reporters, editors and others who work in the news industry. But the sites journalists use most often differ from the ones the public turns to for news.
Among journalists, Twitter clearly ranks at the top of the list for work-related tasks. About seven in ten American journalists (69%) say it is the social media site they use most or second for their work. Twitter is followed by Facebook at 52% and, far down the list, by Instagram (19%), LinkedIn (17%) and YouTube (14%). None of the other sites asked in the survey – Reddit, WhatsApp, TikTok, Discord, Twitch and Snapchat – were named by more than 4% of journalists surveyed.
A different formation appears to the public. Among Americans overall, Facebook is the most used social media site for news, with 31% of US adults saying they go there regularly for news. YouTube is the second most used site, with 22% of the public regularly getting news there. Fewer adults (13%) say they regularly get news on Twitter, despite the platform’s widespread use among journalists. Overall, just under half of US adults (48%) say they often or sometimes get news from social media sites.
The primary data source for this analysis is a Pew Research Center survey of 11,889 US-based journalists who currently work in the news industry and said they report, edit or create original news in their current job. The survey was conducted online from February 16 to March 17, 2022, by SSRS. Read the appendix for a detailed demographic profile of the journalists who completed the survey.
Because no ready list of all American journalists exists, Center researchers relied on commercial databases of US-based journalists as well as supplemental lists of news organizations to create a broad sample and diverse of over 160,000 journalists from as many types of media and media and media. reporting areas as much as possible. Although it is impossible to be sure that every segment of the US journalism profession is covered by the sample, the use of multiple databases and supplementary lists ensured that journalists from a variety of different reporting areas, types of news platforms, such as and media size. and types – such as those who work for organizations that aim to primarily reach a certain demographic group – were represented.
Propensity weighting was used to ensure that the responses of the 11,889 respondents were matched to the full sample of over 160,000 journalists in terms of job titles, media type, freelance status and geographic location.
See the topline for the questions journalists were asked in the survey. For more information on developing the sample of journalists or survey weighting, please see the methodology.
Figures for the share of US adults who regularly get news on each social media site come from a Pew Research Center survey of 11,178 US adults conducted from July 26 to August 8, 2021. All those who completed the survey are members of the American Center Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. That way almost all American adults have a chance of selection. The survey is estimated to be representative of the US adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, party affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP methodology.
See the lead for the questions asked by US adults in the survey, along with its answers and methodology.
This is the latest report in the Pew Research Center’s ongoing inquiry into the state of news, information and journalism in the digital age, a research program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation .
Demographic differences in journalists’ use of social media platforms
Among journalists, the use of social media for work purposes is common across all age groups, but there are differences in the sites most frequently accessed.
Twitter is particularly popular among younger journalists, with 83% of those aged 18 to 29 identifying it as one of their most used social media sites. In stark contrast, 45% of journalists 65 and older identify Twitter as one of their top two social media sites for work assignments. Instagram is also more popular among younger journalists (those under 50), while LinkedIn and YouTube are somewhat more popular among older journalists (those aged 50 and over).
Looking at race and ethnicity, Twitter is particularly popular among Asian American journalists, with 82% saying it is one of their most used sites, compared with about seven in ten whites (69%), blacks (70%) and Hispanic. journalists (71%). A third of black journalists cite Instagram as one of the most common sites they use, as do 29% of Hispanic journalists and 24% of Asian journalists — all statistically higher than the 18% of white journalists who say the same .
Differences by type of news organization journalists work for
The social media sites journalists use also often vary by the characteristics of the news organizations they work for – including the organization’s original platform, the political makeup of the audience, and the geographic focus of the organization’s work.
Journalists who say their organization began in television news stand out in several areas. Two-thirds of journalists in that group say Facebook is one of their most used social media sites – the highest percentage of any platform group and dramatically higher than the 38% of those working in online organizations. Journalists who say they work for organizations that originated in TV are also more likely to include Twitter in their top two sites on their sites (80% say so), while print journalists are less likely likely to say so (62%). At the same time, television, as well as radio journalists, are less Online and print journalists are likely to say that LinkedIn is one of their top two sites.
Journalists’ use of social media sites also varies by what they identify as the political makeup of their audience. Journalists who say they work at a media outlet with a politically right-leaning audience are more likely than those with a left-leaning audience to say Facebook is one of their top two social media sites for their work (67% vs. 45%). Conversely, journalists who say their organization has a left-leaning audience are twice as likely as those who say their organization has a right-leaning audience to use Instagram (24% vs. 12%).
The differences for Twitter are not as large, but three-quarters of journalists who say they work at a media outlet with a politically left-leaning audience say it is one of the sites they use most often, compared with 66% of journalists with an organization audience of whom. leans politically to the right.
Among journalists who say they work at a news organization with a community, city or county focus, Facebook is the most used social media platform; 73% say it’s one of their top sites. This number drops to 33% among journalists at nationally focused organizations and to 30% for those working for internationally focused organizations.
Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is more likely to be used by journalists in nationally or internationally focused news organizations. About a quarter of journalists at national news organizations (25%) and international news organizations (27%) consider LinkedIn among their most used social media sites, compared to just 9% of journalists at news-focused media outlets. community and 12% of them. working in stores with a nationwide focus. (Freelance and self-employed journalists were asked about the geographic focus of their work rather than the geographic focus of their organization’s work.)
Note: Here are the questions asked of reporters for this analysis, along with their answers methodology. And here are the questions asked by the American public, along with the answers, and hers methodology.
Mark Jurkowitz is a senior writer at the Pew Research Center and a former associate director of journalism research.
Jeffrey Gottfried is a senior fellow focused on journalism research at the Pew Research Center.
