Research shows that more and more American users are getting news through TikTok

November 16, the latest research from the Pew Research Center (Pew Research Center) shows that the proportion of American users who regularly get news on TikTok has risen from 22% a year ago to 43% in 2023. The study found that at least half of American adults get news content from social media.

News organizations are vying for users' attention and advertising budgets on TikTok and other social media platforms. Many news organizations are trying to attract TikTok's large Generation Z user base.

Between September 25 and October 1, 2023, the Pew Research Center surveyed 8842 American adults and analyzed their access to news. The results show that 67% of respondents use news websites or applications.

In addition, Pew found that Facebook, owned by Meta, was the most popular social media platform for news, with 30 per cent of Americans saying they regularly browse news through Facebook, followed by YouTube (26 per cent), Instagram (16 per cent) and TikTok (14 per cent).

In recent years, Meta has been deliberately reducing news and other content on its social media platforms, but people's habit of getting news on Facebook still exists.

In addition, Pew data show that users who get general news on Nextdoor, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are more likely to be women, while those who get general news on Reddit, X, LinkedIn and Alphabet's YouTube are more likely to be men.

Finally, data from the Pew Research Center also show that users of general news on Elon Musk's social media X platform (formerly Twitter) are broadly divided, with 46 per cent supporting or leaning towards Republicans and 49 per cent supporting or leaning towards Democrats.