Almost 4 in 10 US adults under 30 get their news from social media influencers, but do we know who these influencers actually are?
While Americans report getting their news from social media influencers, the characteristics of these influencers aren’t widely known.
That’s why the Pew Research Center studied a sample of 500 popular news influencers based on a review of over 28,000 social media accounts. The study revealed some interesting similarities among these influencers.
Most are male Republicans
The study found that news influencers are mostly male, and many seem to identify as Republicans, conservatives, or pro-Trump.
Men dominate the news influencer game, as only around 30% of news influencers are women, and roughly 7% of the gender couldn’t be identified. This means that a whopping 63% of influencers are men.
Tech moguls and conservative figures like Elon Musk have long argued that legacy media and social media are too left-leaning, so much so that they censor conservative opinions.
Yet this isn’t the case, as most news influencers are more inclined to align themselves with the right wing. This might be present in their reporting styles, content, account bios, or media coverage.
Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found that these news influencers utilize X more than any other social media platform, with 85% of influencers from this sample being on the site.
This may be because X pushes its own idea of free speech and promotes an arguably pro-Republican agenda.
A recent study found that Elon Musk’s platform X was boosting Republican-leaning accounts after its algorithm was modified in mid-July, just after its owner endorsed Donald Trump as president of the United States.
Much like X, Facebook is the home of right-leaning news influencers as influencers on the platform are more likely to express Republican views.
According to the study, “there are three times as many explicitly conservative news influencers (39%) as liberal ones (13%)” on Facebook.
Not all are created equally
However, news influencers aren’t simply shackled to one social media platform. The Pew Research Center found that the majority of news influencers in the study utilize multiple platforms to maximize their audience.
What’s interesting is the differences between the five main social media platforms and how news influencers look on different platforms.
For example, TikTok has the most equal gender split of any social media platform, as news influencers on the platform are made up of 50% men and 45% women.
However, on most sites, the gender split is unequally divided. For example, 68% of YouTube’s news influencers are men, and only 28% are women.
Unlike other social media platforms, news influencers on TikTok were found to be more left-leaning and expressed support for groups such as the LGBTQ+ community.
Most aren’t journalists
While some news influencers are affiliated with media outlets, 77% of news influencers have no past or present affiliation with news outlets or other media organizations.
Those news influencers who are tied to media organizations are less likely to express their true political orientation.
The study found that 64% of news influencers seem to have no specific political agenda, compared to 44% of those who have never worked for a news outlet.
What’s intriguing is that news influencers who express a political viewpoint and are affiliated with a news outlet tend to be right-leaning.
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