By Rachel Kaser
A Pew study published this week shows at least two-thirds of the country gets some of their news from social media, but by and large they still dont trust it to be accurate.
Pews study validates what you probably already suspected based on your friends activities: Two-thirds of the country gets its news from social media at least some of the time. That said, the study also shows that a majority expect the news to be largely inaccurate, suggesting a healthier dose of skepticism than one might suppose.
In fact, of those who get their news on social media, 42 percent think its largely inaccurate. And if you use old media as your primary source, then youre apparently even more likely to find social medias reporting to be suspect 68 percent of those who find out the news via print media wouldnt put their faith in social media.
Thats also the primary concern among the surveys respondents, with 31 percent worrying the information is inaccurate. The next-biggest concern, that its too biased or political, was shared by a comparatively small 11 percent.
The topic of bias in social media has been a heady topic for the last few months. In fact, during the Congressional hearings last week, where Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg responded to concerns about fake news and election interference on their platforms, there were numerous instances of protesters inserting themselves into the proceedings to complain about such bias.
Laura Loomer, who was filming herself with a pink selfie stick (by the power of Ra, Laura, have some respect for yourself), shouted about Dorsey trying to tilt the election in favor of Democrats. She had to be escorted out while Representative Billy Long shouted joking auctioneer calls at her expense that sent the entire room into fits of giggles. Meanwhile, Infowars Alex Jones was caught pawing Senator Marco Rubio in a hallway, asking him about the bias against conservatives and shadow banning while doing so.
But the evidence from Pew suggests its not political bias thats really bothering social media news consumers.
As for where users prefer to get their news well, Facebook still has that market cornered. Reddits slowly become the dominant source of news among social media sites, at least for its users. It still doesnt have Facebooks reach, but among users surveyed, a total of 73 percent said they get their news there.
This article has been previously published on The Next Web.
Rachel is a writer and former game critic from Central Texas.