(Bloomberg) -- A significant number of young adults get their news from social media “news influencers” that generally don’t have traditional journalism training or news experience, according to new data from Pew Research Center.
Nearly 40% of young adults under 30 rely on these news influencers to stay updated on current events and politics, Pew found. The vast majority of those influencers – 77% – aren’t affiliated with a news organization or have never worked in the news industry.
The new data highlights a changing media landscape in which young people, in particular, are relying more and more on non-traditional news sources to learn about important topics like government, social issues and the economy.
The study, based on insight from 10,000 adults and 500 news influencers in the United States, comes in the wake of a contentious presidential election where candidates on both sides leaned heavily on social media creators to disseminate information and mobilize voters.
In some cases, like at the Democratic National Convention, internet creators were treated as members of the media and worked alongside journalists. In others, digital stars replaced journalists altogether, with Trump turning down or canceling interviews with mainstream outlets and instead sitting for podcast tapings with online celebrities, like Joe Rogan and Logan Paul. Earlier this year, NBC relied on dozens of influencers to help cover the Olympics in Paris, paying for their travel and granting them press credentials.
In the two weeks since Trump’s victory, political pundits have questioned whether traditional news organizations are losing relevance as more Americans turn to social media — and content creators, specifically — to stay abreast of current events. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of the social network X, has pushed this narrative aggressively. “The reality of this election was plain to see on X, while most legacy media lied relentlessly to the public,” he posted to his more than 200 million followers after Trump’s win. “You are the media now.”
While X, formerly Twitter, is the most popular platform for news influencers, video app TikTok and Google’s YouTube are home to the largest share of news influencers who monetize their content and have no formal background in journalism. Of the news influencers on TikTok, 84% haven’t worked in journalism, and roughly three quarters of those influencers try to make money off their news analysis, whether by asking for tips, peddling merchandise or touting separate subscriptions to additional exclusive material, Pew found.
Unlike reporters who often have more formal journalistic training and editorial guardrails, influencers are generally free to post whatever they want and without editors or fact-checkers. They regularly mix personal opinion with fact, take stances on hot-button political or social issues, and cash in on the information they share by selling products alongside their posts or soliciting donations from followers, the report said.
See More: TikTok Is Becoming a Popular News Source for American Adults
Many traditional news publications do not allow reporters to personally monetize individual stories they write, collect payments from sources or readers, or share personal political views. That’s all done to avoid the appearance of biases and conflicts of interest. Still, most social media users relying on news influencers say the information they offer is unique and sometimes more helpful than what they’d find elsewhere. Of American adults who regularly get news from influencers, 65% said those influencers have “helped them better understand current events and civic issues.”
Pew did not investigate whether news influencers have partnered with mainstream news outlets to help those publications drive paid subscriptions or traffic, but such collaborations may be on the horizon as more Americans turn to social media platforms for their news.
One newsroom that has started to embrace this approach is Yahoo News, which earlier this year launched a creator program that pays influencers a share of advertising revenue in exchange for posting content to its site. Though Yahoo News mostly aggregates articles from other publications, it could serve as an early model for the broader news business hoping to find more views and subscribers.
The Pew report analyzed hundreds of news influencer accounts with more than 100,000 followers; surveyed more than 10,600 US adults about their news consumption habits; and reviewed content from more than 100,000 posts across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube from July and August.
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