People are using TikTok as a news source, as Facebook declines

When it comes to where people get their news, TikTok continues to increase, while other social media sites like Reddit and Facebook are on the decline.

A new survey from Pew Research Center surveyed American adults from a range of age groups about which social media sites they get their news from. TikTok and Instagram are the only platforms that have increased since 2020, while other sites included in the survey — Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitch, and WhatsApp — have all decreased.

In the past two years, TikTok usage as a news source has gone from 22 percent to 33 percent. Instagram only went up marginally from one percentage point from 28 to 29 percent. It's worth noting, while TikTok is a growing news source, the quality of that news is questionable.

Unsurprisingly, 18 to 29-year-olds are the age group that relies on TikTok the most for staying informed. That's shot up from nine percent to 26 percent since 2020. This falls in line with earlier findings from Pew demonstrating that TikTok has become an alternative search engine for younger generations.

Facebook's decline as a news source also make sense. Rampant spread of misinformation and harmful algorithms have broken people's trust in the social media site, and Facebook is deliberately moving away from investing in its news partnerships. Ironically, Meta's new strategy is to be more like TikTok by doubling down on its short-form video feature Reels on Instagram. But that strategy is rubbing users the wrong way. Last quarter, Meta reported a loss of revenue for the first time since going public in 2007.

With Meta's quarterly earnings on the horizon, will it be another quarter or revenue loss? Or will the company's frantic pivot to stay relevant pan out? Stay tuned.