Results of the new study published this week affirm that about 67 percent of American adults somewhat rely on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat for their news. This is a 5 percent increase from 2016, when that number was 62 percent, Reuters reported.
The research also finds that 55 percent of Americans over the age of 50 are obtaining news on social media sites, compared to 45 percent in 2016.
"While a small increase overall, this growth is driven by more substantial increases among Americans who are older, less educated, and non-white," the research analysis claims.
The percentage of people under 50 consuming news on these sites is unchanged from 2016, at 78 percent.
And apparently, Facebook is the most used social media site for news, with 45 percent of American adults getting their news from the photo-sharing site. YouTube was the runner-up, with 18 percent of American adults getting their news from the website. Only 11 percent of US adults get their news from Twitter.
According to the study, about 74 percent of non-white American adults get their news on social media sites, higher than the 64 percent in 2016.
In addition, those with bachelor degrees — 78 percent — tend to get their news from social media sites.
