As the mainstream media’s influence continues to erode, young people are turning to influencers as their go-to source for news, according to new survey data published by Pew Research Center on Monday.
The survey, which covered 10,658 Americans during the summer, found 37% of respondents ages 18-29 “regularly get news” from influencers. That stands in contrast to the 21% of all Americans who regularly get news from influencers, regardless of age, and the 26% of respondents in the 30-49 age bracket who say they do the same.
This trend appears to be consistent for both right-leaning and left-leaning young people, with Pew saying “there are minimal differences between Republican and Democrats on this question.”
Here’s a look at the age breakdown via Pew:
Most of the survey respondents said influencer-driven news has been beneficial to them. Pew found 65% of respondents said “news influencers have helped them better understand current events and civic issues.” And 70% of respondents said the flavor of news they’re getting from influencers is different than what they get from more mainstream sources. Only 31% said they felt a “personal connection” to their favorite news influencers, though.
Pew’s new survey comes out after many media pundits have been debating president-elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ media strategies during the run up to Election Day. MSNBC commentator Anand Giridharadas, for example, groaned that conservatives have a “media ecosystem” led by Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson that acts as a “radicalization engine” for young men.
At the same time, YouTube has become a dominant hub for millions of Americans looking to get their political news, whether that’s from the left or the right.
Pew found news influencers were most likely to be on X, with 85% saying they had X accounts, compared to 50% who had Instagram accounts and 44% who were on YouTube.
The new Pew survey data comes out a month after Gallup released a poll showing trust in mainstream media was at an all-time low. Only 31% Americans, according to Gallup’s poll, had a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report stories accurately.
