News From Social Media Shows Red and Blue Divide

Pew report finds Democrats and Republicans use social media differently for news

A new report by the Pew Research Center shows that while nearly a third of U.S. adults get their news from social media sites, Republicans and Democrats tend to rely on different social media outlets.

The report, part of the Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project, found that coverall, Democrats get their news from social media more than Republicans by a ratio of 36 percent to 26 percent.

But once on social media, Pew says Democrats can most likely be found reading news on Twitter and Google Plus, while Republicans lean more toward Facebook and LinkedIn.

Democrats used Twitter 45 percent and Google Plus 44 percent of the time, and Republicans used Facebook 26 percent and LinkedIn 25 percent of the time for news.

In no case did Republicans or Democrats rely exclusively on social media for news and information.

“Social media news consumers still get news from a variety of other sources and, in some cases, even more so than the general public does,” the report says. “YouTube, LinkedIn and Google Plus news consumers are more likely than Facebook and Twitter news consumers to watch cable news, [while] Twitter news consumers are among the least likely to turn to local and cable TV.”

However, the report did not indicate which sites Democrats and Republicans preferred for viral cats or Miley Cyrus twerking videos.
 

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