Getting your news from social media is a common trend these days because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing consumers to get curated feeds in the midst of their scrolling. A new report that was released by Reuters revealed that around 78% of people who are between the ages of 18 and 24 said that they use social media to get their news, and they also highlighted which social media platforms were most popular for this.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Facebook is the surprising winner in this category. Around 40% of European, 34% of North American, 43% of Asian, 57% of South American, and a massive 60% of African survey respondents said that they got at least some of their news from Facebook.
However, there is also a clear geographical disparity that can be seen here. While only around a quarter of Europeans and Americans get their news from YouTube, these numbers were 42%, 35% and 44% for Asia, South America and Africa respectively with all things having been considered and taken into account.
Twitter, which is used by only 11% of European respondents and 11% of North American respondents for news, was cited by 34% of Africans as a major news source. This reveals an interesting trend in which people in the Global South tend to be more likely to use social media to get their news than those in the West and the North.
Another interesting factoid that was released as part of this survey was that most people still like to read the news (text-based) instead of watching it. Colombia, Mexico, Peru and the Phillipines were the only country in which less than half of respondents preferred to read the news. Finland topped this list with 85% of people saying they prefer to read their news, and every other country on the list apart from the aforementioned for had a majority of people agreeing that reading was better than watching or listening.
Read next: Twitter is the World’s Most Toxic App According to This Survey
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Facebook is the surprising winner in this category. Around 40% of European, 34% of North American, 43% of Asian, 57% of South American, and a massive 60% of African survey respondents said that they got at least some of their news from Facebook.
However, there is also a clear geographical disparity that can be seen here. While only around a quarter of Europeans and Americans get their news from YouTube, these numbers were 42%, 35% and 44% for Asia, South America and Africa respectively with all things having been considered and taken into account.
Twitter, which is used by only 11% of European respondents and 11% of North American respondents for news, was cited by 34% of Africans as a major news source. This reveals an interesting trend in which people in the Global South tend to be more likely to use social media to get their news than those in the West and the North.
Another interesting factoid that was released as part of this survey was that most people still like to read the news (text-based) instead of watching it. Colombia, Mexico, Peru and the Phillipines were the only country in which less than half of respondents preferred to read the news. Finland topped this list with 85% of people saying they prefer to read their news, and every other country on the list apart from the aforementioned for had a majority of people agreeing that reading was better than watching or listening.
Read next: Twitter is the World’s Most Toxic App According to This Survey
