A recently published survey by the Pew Research Center found that nearly half of Americans share the belief that social media sites are crucial in catching up on the latest COVID-19 vaccine news.
The survey was conducted between July 26th and August 8th, 2021.
According to the Pew survey, as many as 48 percent of adult respondents reported consuming at least some extent of news about COVID-19 vaccines on social media.
“The share of Americans who say social media is an important source of COVID-19 vaccine news increases among those who regularly go to social media platforms for news,” the Pew authors explained in their Fact Tank report.
“The ultimate reach of COVID-19 vaccine information on social media is also impacted by the share of Americans who use each site for news. For example, while 31% of Americans say they turn to Facebook for news, just 4% turn to Snapchat for news.”
Among the respondents of the survey, the vast majority reported receiving their news of vaccines through Snapchat and TikTok, more so than Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit.
“Three-quarters or more of Americans who regularly turn to Snapchat (79%), TikTok (77%) and Instagram (75%) for news say social media is an important way of keeping up with COVID-19 vaccine news. All in all, 60% or more of Americans who regularly get news from each of the eight sites individually analyzed say social media is an important way of keeping up with this news,” the Pew findings concluded.
