More users getting news from social media websites, survey reveals

ByCraig Haley

Good news for the purveyors of fake “satire” news this week, as a recent study shows that an increasingly large percentage of US people are happy to get their news bulletins from social media.

With the spike in fake news articles disguised as real news continuing to rise, it has become evident that such sites thrive off social media platforms – specifically Facebook and Twitter – and we have long been warning our readers about the potential pitfalls of using sites like Facebook to get your news.

So it isn’t particularly comforting to see that the number of people doing just that has increased to 63% for both Twitter and Facebook, according to one study that surveyed 2000 Americans. The study indicated that most users get their news from Facebook, but a higher percentage would use Twitter for breaking news.


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With that said, both Facebook and Twitter do both have a usually reliable “trending” feature that – for the most part – is immune to the wrath of fake news.

But nevertheless this study highlights that Internet surfers are becoming increasingly comfortable with lifting their daily news fix from social media, and there is no shortage of nonsense news being shared between users on these platforms.

So it’s certainly not bad news for those that operate the slew of fake news websites that we’ve encountered over the last year or so. It seems that the onslaught of their phoney-storytelling isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Read more details about the study here and remember to take a look at our article outlining how to spot fake news “fauxtire” websites here.

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