Pew: 58 percent of US adults consider social media an important news source

New Pew data: 58% consider social media an important news source, 13% say it is the most important way. Why 59% from another study means something different.

From Social Rocket editorial team

27/10/2026

This text was created with AI assistance and reviewed editorially before publication. All sources are linked below.

58 percent of the adult US population consider social networks an important way to follow the news. This is shown by a Pew-Knight analysis published on October 23, 2026 Pew-Knight analysis. In it, 13 percent even name social media as the most important news source. In an earlier survey 2022, it was only 5 percent.

Importance is not the same as usage

The June 2026 survey on the importance of social networks finds 13 percent with social media as the most important way and a further 45 percent for whom it is an important but not the most important way. A separate August survey by the Pew Research Center among 5.166 US adults arrives at 59 percent who at least sometimes get news via social media. These two results must not be mixed up as one identical reach figure.

Another difference concerns the denominator. In Pew's Social Media and News Fact Sheet 2026, 40 percent of all US adults say they regularly use Facebook as a news source, 34 percent YouTube, 23 percent Instagram and 20 percent TikTok. Among the respective platform users, by contrast, 57 percent regularly use Facebook, 46 percent Instagram and 53 percent TikTok for news.

A bigger social news role changes how success is measured

For publishers, this development means: a post can generate journalistic attention without ever leading to a website visit. That is why recurring video viewers, direct subscriptions, verified registrations and the quality of advertising environments are becoming important additional metrics alongside classic referrals.

However, the study proves neither that social news is automatically more credible nor that advertising revenue is rising. The figures relate exclusively to the USA; German audiences need their own measurement data.

Our analyses fit with this on publisher metrics beyond page views, news creator monetisation and the Pew data on perceptions of democracy in Germany.

Sources: Pew-Knight: important news source, Pew: usage by platform, discovery report.

Image: original Pew Research Center graphic on regular news consumption by platform; it illustrates a different question than the 58-percent figure.