Social media is the world’s leading news source across all groups, overtaking conventional news sources for the first time, according to a sweeping report from Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
The Digital News Report, published Tuesday, asks 100,000 news consumers in 48 countries about where they get their information and while social media has been on the rise as an information source among young people for years, the report notes that this is the first time it has become a major source in all markets for all ages.
Fifty-four percent of the survey’s respondents said they used social media to consume news in the last week, compared with 51% who used legacy media, such as television, radio or news websites.
Globally, 30% of those surveyed said social media and video networks are their main source of news, up from 22% in 2020.
This number goes up to 52% if it just includes respondents aged 18-24, the study found, which is 32 points higher than the next most popular main news source.
Traditional media sources, such as television news and apps, have declined by 13 and 12 points, respectively, since 2020, while social media use grew in 22 of the 48 markets studied, the report found.
The reasons for the switch among the respondents are mixed, the report found. Some users said social media is just a better place for getting news, or that they just watch less TV than they did before.
The report describes the rise of social media as “more of a drift rather than a shift, but it is nevertheless an important moment,” the report said.
Traditional outlets still outpace social media in the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland and Croatia, along with a handful of Asian countries, the study found.
There is a broader public trust in legacy media institutions in these countries than in others and, on average, social media users are less reliant on individual creators for their news, the report found.
Those who reported using social media still often go to established news channels and news providers to get their information, but the report notes that news providers “are having to battle hard for their share.”
In social media-dominant countries, there is criticism of how traditional media have covered conflict, such as the war in Iran or the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
For example, almost 40% of people under 35 say social media is the best way to follow news about the war in Iran, compared to those over 35, who prefer television or news websites.
The report also noted that 10% of people use artificial intelligence (AI) as a news source in the last week, which it said means it has not exploded for this yet.
However, the study flags that recent changes to Google’s search engine to prioritise “AI mode” could change users’ consumption habits.