Jessie Clodfelter

CSC 111 A
Professor Kleckner
December 4, 2018

Final Project: An Analysis of Social Media News Consumption in America

Problem Formulation
With the emergence of the 24/7 news cycle and growth of social media platforms, more
Americans are beginning to utilize sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. as sources of
news. However, it is a common misperception that only Millennials and younger people are
receiving, reading, and viewing their news via social media platforms (6). A recent 2018 Pew
study on this topic found that this new practice of collecting news digitally is conducted by over
half of all Americans age eighteen or older, and reaches across multiple generations, races,
educational levels, and genders (3). The 2018 Pew survey has stated that the number of
Americans using social media for news consumption has begun to plateau (3), and Kurt Wagner
of Recode claims that 2017 was the year with the highest numbers of digital news consumers to
date (6). Since consuming news via social media is such a common part of the daily routine for
Americans in recent years, it is important to discover and analyze the trends within the practice
to make conclusions and predictions of how it will continue into the future. This report will use
data sources and articles to visualize and analyze demographic trends regarding Americans who
are using social media platforms as sources of news, as well as identifying their favorite and least
favorite aspects of the activity and which platforms are most frequently used for news purposes.

Data Collection, Storage, Cleaning, and Analysis

The main data source utilized to produce visualizations showing trends in demographics and
attitudes on social media sites being used as news source was a report from Pew Research
Center. This report was published in September of 2018 by Katerina Eva Matsa and Elisa
Shearer. Within this report, the authors discuss their findings on who is choosing to utilize social
media for news and whether or not it is a credible or sustainable practice. The report also
compares its most recent data with that of past years, the oldest mentioned being 2013 (3).

Various articles from websites and organizations such as TechCrunch, Recode, WIRED
magazine, and Reuters were also used to gather information about this topic. These articles,
published in 2017 and 2018, further discuss and reference the Pew Research study as well as
general content regarding social media news consumption. Further, an article published on
Business Insider in September 2018 discusses survey data from both Pew Research Center and
Nielsen about digital news consumption in general (6).

As a result of the wide range of sources regarding social media platforms as sources of news, the
process of data cleaning and storage was definitely needed. The specific question being asked
within this report is centered around demographic trends and the attitudes of those using social
media sites for news, so data discussing commonly used platforms, digital news viewers’
reasoning and opinions, and general demographic data was stored within a Google spreadsheet to
be used for visualization purposes.
Data Visualizations
Figure 1: Americans Consuming News via Social Media, 2018
This visualization was chosen in order to represent and discuss how many Americans are getting
their news from social media platforms in the year 2018. It shows the percentages of Americans
who utilize social media for news at different frequencies, but helps the reader see that over half
receive some portion of their news consumption from these platforms. Figure 1 is effective
because it introduces the topic to the reader and helps them put into perspective how many
Americans are being represented or visualized in the coming graphs.

Figure 2: Common Platforms Utilized for News, 2018

This visualization was chosen to specify which social media platforms are most commonly used
by Americans when they are choosing to consume news digitally. There are numerous social
media platforms in existence, so narrowing them down to the most frequented by newsreaders is
an effective way to put the entire problem formulation into context. This way, the reader will
have a better understanding of what is being discussed and referenced as well. For the year 2018,
the most common social media networks that were used by Americans when consuming news
were Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and
Tumblr.
Figure 3: Why are Americans Utilizing Social Media Platforms for Their News?
This visualization was used to expand on the second part of the question of interest: What are the
attitudes of Americans using social media for news towards their practices? In other words,
Figure 3 is analyzing what digital newsreaders like most about using social media platforms to
stay informed on current news and events. The most popular answers were matters of
convenience, the ability to interact with others, and the easiness of staying up-to-date on current
events. This visualization is not only effective because it helps to answer the main question of
the report, but also because the responses can be useful in determining conclusions or
implications for the future of social media news consumption.

Figure 4: Downsides of Social Media News Consumption, According to Consumers

This visualization is similar to Figure 3 in that it expands on digital newsreaders’ opinions and
attitudes towards their habits and preference to view news on social media. However, this
visualization looks at the other side: what this particular population favors the least about the
activity and what could be frustrating components of choosing to consume news on social media
platforms. The most common response by far was the feeling that what the newsreaders were
viewing was inaccurate or false information. Over 30% of Americans who utilize social media
for newsgathering reported this, while around 10% identified bias and quality as their main
issues with the topic. It is also important to note that when this data was being collected by the
source, survey participants were given an “I don’t know” or “None” option to choose, which is
not visualized in Figure 4. This visualization is particularly effective because it shows the reader
that there are common dislikes about certain parts of the social media newsgathering experience,
even though it is so widely practiced in American society today.

Figure 5: Age Differences in Social Media News Consumption, by Platform

This visualization was chosen because it condenses a somewhat large portion of the collected
data into a format that is easier to read and comprehend. Figure 5 is a small-multiples design
featuring social media platforms that Pew Research identified as the most commonly used for
newsgathering. It is effective because it further breaks down the demographics by age, showing
which groups are more likely to gather their news from certain platforms. For example, the
reader can see that younger Americans (18-29) are more likely than any other age group to
consume news via Snapchat, whereas Americans 65 and older are more likely to use sites such as
LinkedIn or Facebook.
Figure 6: Gender Differences in Consuming News, by Platform (2018)
This visualization further analyzes demographic patterns and trends within Americans utilizing
social media for news consumption. Figure 6 breaks this down by gender utilization of the most
common social media platforms. It shows that females are most likely to gather their news from
sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. On the other hand, males are most likely to
gather the same news from Reddit, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Interestingly, Twitter is also the
only platform included in Figure 6 that has a relatively equal representation between men and
women. This bar graph is effective because it can help the viewer form implications about what
these platforms may experience in the future in regards to promoting news stories if they are
being utilized by a specific demographic.
Drawing Conclusions
By collecting, storing, visualizing, and analyzing data pertaining to social media use in
newsgathering, it can be concluded that over half of all Americans across a variety of
demographics and identities are engaging in this activity. The most common social media
platforms used for news consumption tends to be Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram,
LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Reddit (1). Many Americans have chosen in recent years to shift their
newsgathering strategies from traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, and television
to a more interactive and accessible one such as the utilization of social media. Around one-fifth
of Americans are engaging with social media for news purposes often (2), and was many
reported that they do so out of convenience and so they have the opportunity to interact with
other users about news and current events (3). On the other hand, these digital newsgatherers are
also finding themselves contemplating whether the news content they encounter on social media
platforms are credible and accurate, which was the most reported downside (4).

The biggest limitation of this work was the fact that since this topic has only recently come into
discussion in recent years, there is hardly any data collected that would assist in showing the
changes of the trends, patterns, and ideas discussed over time. As a result, many visualizations
were in the same format (ie: bar graph). In the future, it will be interesting to see how data
collected relating to this topic will be viewed and interpreted, especially given the current
political climate and technological advancements that are constantly changing and being
discussed.
 Bibliography

1. Dreyfuss, E. (2018, September 13). Who Gets Their News From Which Social Media
Sites? Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/who-gets-news-from-social-media-
sites/

2. Lomas, N. (2017, September 09). Even More US Adults Now Getting News from Social
Media, Says Pew. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/09/even-more-us-
adults-now-getting-news-from-social-media-says-pew/

3. Matsa, K. E., & Shearer, E. (2018, September 21). News Use Across Social Media
Platforms 2018. Retrieved from http://www.journalism.org/2018/09/10/news-use-across-
social-media-platforms-2018/

4. Moon, A. (2017, September 08). Two-Thirds of American Adults Get News from Social
Media: Survey. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-
socialmedia/two-thirds-of-american-adults-get-news-from-social-media-survey-
idUSKCN1BJ2A8

5. Schomer, A. (2018, September 12). News Consumption Habits are Trending Digital.
Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/pew-nielsen-survey-news-consumption-
trends-digital-2018-9

6. Wagner, K. (2017, September 07). Two-Thirds of Americans are Now Getting News
from Social Media. Retrieved from https://www.recode.net/2017/9/7/16270900/social-
media-news-americans-facebook-twitter