About one in five Americans, and a virtually identical share of Republicans and Democrats, regularly get their news from digital influencers, many of whom are on social media platform X, according to a report released Monday by the Pew Research Center. .
The findings, drawn from a survey of more than 10,000 adults in the United States and an analysis of social media posts made this summer by influencers, provide an indication of how Americans consumed the news during the presidential campaign that President-elect Donald ultimately won. Trump.
The study examined accounts run by people who regularly post and talk about current events, including through podcasts and newsletters, and who have more than 100,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X or TikTok. They include people from across the political spectrum, such as progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen and conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro, as well as nonpartisan personalities like Chris Cillizza, a former analyst who now runs his own newsletter.
The report found that news influencers posted primarily about politics and the election, followed by social issues such as race and abortion and international events, such as the war between Israel and Hamas.
The majority of them, 63%, are men and the majority, 77%, have no affiliation or history with a media organization. Pew said about half of the influencers did not express a clear political orientation. Of those who did, slightly more identified as conservative than liberal.
During the campaign, both parties and presidential campaigns courted influencers, including creators who weren’t very political, to compete for voters who increasingly get their news from nontraditional sources.
The Republican and Democratic national conventions accredited influencers to cover their events last summer. Vice President Kamala Harris sat down with Alex Cooper for his “Call Her Daddy” podcast and talked basketball on “All the Smoke.” Meanwhile, Trump hung out with the boys on “Bussin’ With the Boys,” “Flagrant” and popular podcaster Joe Rogan as part of a series of appearances aimed at young male voters.
“These influencers have really reached new levels of attention and prominence this year in the midst of the presidential election,” Galen Stocking, a social scientist at the Pew Research Center, said in a statement. “We thought it was really important to look at who is behind some of the most popular accounts, the ones that are not news organizations, but real people.”
Although 85% of news influencers have a presence on X, many of them are also on other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
Racial minorities, young adults and adults with lower incomes were more likely to get their news from influencers, according to the report.
Most people surveyed by Pew said news influencers have helped them better understand current events, while about a quarter say what they hear hasn’t made much of a difference. A small percentage, 9%, say influencers have confused them more.
Media analysts have been concerned about how influencers, most of whom do not have to comply with editorial standards, could fuel misinformation or even be used by US adversaries to produce content that suits their interests.
On social media, however, some influencers have positioned themselves as figures who present points of view that others ignore.
Pew, which is doing the study as part of an initiative funded by the Knight Foundation, said 70% of respondents believe the news they get from influencers is somewhat different than what they hear elsewhere. About a quarter said it was “extremely or very different.”
The report reflected that TikTok is the only one of the main platforms where influencers who identify as right-wing do not outnumber those who are more liberal.
Pew said news influencers on the short video app were more likely than those on other sites to show support for LGBTQ+ rights or identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. The platform also had the smallest gender gap for news influencers.
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