Slashdot Mirror
30% of Americans Get News From Facebook According To Pew Research Poll
An anonymous reader writes "According to a recent Pew Research poll a third of Americans get their news while they 'like' things. 'All in all, then, it may be the very incidental nature of the site that ultimately exposes more people to news there,' Pew said. 'Indeed, the more time one spends on the site, the more likely they are to get news there.'"
Facebook makes me personally more engaged and thoughtful of all events, both news and personal.
It's amazing how I can see someone that I connected with on Facebook in real life and have a vague notion of what they are up to. It makes me feel connected. The same goes for news; my friends all read the new several times a day and therefore gives me a hand on the pulse of current events, even though that's not my intent.
the other 40% get it from Fox News. The rest don't care.
So many people, so misinformed.
The great part about getting information from a social network is that you can precisely fine-tune what information you allow to seep into your personal bubble.
As in ""Overall, about half of adult Facebook users, or 47 percent, 'ever' get news there," Pew said in its report. "That amounts to 30 percent of the population."
So if you see a news story on Facebook, once in a while, i.e. often enough to remember that you did it, ever, you're in the 30%. It's a deceptive summary.
The referenced article goes on to say, "Just 4 percent said Facebook is the most important way they get news"
Carry on with your silliness.
Why not get your news from Facebook? Almost every source of news in the US spins and/or censors coverage for someone's political gain. If you're going to hear lies about current events, you might as well hear them from your friends.
I think everyone has a friend on FB who posts news items really fast. As soon as they happen. It is almost like some people feel compelled to be the first to ancounce news on Facebook. I think those few people may be responsible for most others getting their news on FB as well.
My (admittedly limited) experience on Facebook suggest that people who are engaged with current events will link to stories, and others will comment on them or like them. That doesn't seem to be all that different from what happens on Slashdot or forums. The difference is in the depth of that layman commentary and how well you know the people involved in the discussion.
So it's not that Facebook is the source of the news. I would be horrified if that was the case. Facebook is simply being used to connect people to the news, and those links may be to more reputable sources. There is reason to be concerned about the bias that a person finds within their own social circles, but you get a lot of bias from sites like Slashdot and forums anyhow.
The pollsters missed it by the phrasing of their question. People aren't getting their news from Facebook. They're getting news from their friends and people they're following, who happen to be posting links to that news to Facebook. The difference is subtle but important. If someone goes "Oh, all we need to do is get our stories to appear on Facebook.", they're going to have their whole push fall on it's face because nobody's reading their articles. They'd need to get their articles in front of the people who lots of other people follow first, and make those articles interesting enough that those people post links to them for their followers to see. That's more complicated than just getting your story carried by a half-dozen major outlets.
Bwahahahahahaha...