The study ran for one week in early 2016, during which time more than 2,000 U.S. adults who got at least some of their news from online sources were interviewed twice a day on any news they may have consumed from an online source. The interviews totaled 25,602, offering 13,086 instances of online news consumption. Here are the results.
65 Percent Have “One Preferred Pathway” to News
The report covers the different pathways that people rely on in order to stay updated on the news — roughly a third went directly to the main website, while about another third stuck to social media sources. Here’s the relevant paragraph: Thanks to earlier Pew studies, we already knew that social media networks are a major source of news. But now we know that those who go online regularly for news tend to rely heavily on one pathway, further narrowing the source through which they perceive what is happening in the world around them.
44 Percent Couldn’t Name the News Source
Also from the study: The written report doesn’t mention whether “Facebook” counted as a name or not, but I’m guessing the latter.
Most People Relied on Family and Friends
Here’s an interesting point: The report never brings up Facebook’s algorithm, which surfaces content that an individual’s personal list of friends has interacted with, but it provides another example of the ways in which people are caught in a news echo chamber: Even if you’re among the minority of online news consumers who tends not to respond to friends and family, you’ll be exposed to their opinions through your Facebook feed, absorbing them to some extent. At this point, the trend is clear: People are continuing to narrow their news sources.
