June 18, 2026
The latest insights from Reuters into news consumption behaviours sees social media topping the table. We look into why this is, and how it’s all potentially come about.
The 2026 Digital News Report from Reuters revealed social’s top place in the news standings – based off of 85,000 respondents across 48 regions. It’s perhaps not surprising to also see that trust in news has never been lower either.
Is news being found or followed?
“For the first time, social media and video networks are, on average across the markets covered, more popular than both TV and owned news websites and apps as sources of news.”
The question from us is; are people seeking out social to find out about news, or does news happen to show up on social during a casual browse? News used to be something you’d seek out – direct via a webpage, watching a dedicated channel or picking up a newspaper.
We’d suggest it’s more stumbling upon stories and algorithmic suggestions that drive news awareness, which coincides with increasing social use being found across the world today. In fact, the report itself states:
“Meta publicly stated in 2025 that it would increase the volume of news content on Facebook and this is likely to have had an impact on reported usage levels.”
But this adds complications:
“When people use social media and video networks they will often be doing so to consume news from established providers, but increasingly this is part of a more complicated news diet and one where news organisations are having to battle hard for their share.”
And the battle for their share isn’t just among each other, it’s every other account on social. It’s not like TV with set time for attention, algorithms can show anyone anything at any time.
The trust issue
With trust in social being so low now, how much is the news actually trusted? Are agendas becoming more transparent? Are increasing levels of AI making it hard to differentiate fact from fiction?
Platforms have their own agendas much in the same way that newspapers and some TV networks do, but the ability for social media platforms to pick up users/followers is shifting platform migrations.
The data is in
Interestingly, X’s users are dropping – since Musk’s takeover – and Threads has had decent pickup. TikTok for news is rising rapidly, reflecting the increasing desire for bitesize news pieces rather than longer news programmes.
The 35+ seeking out news direct/via search closely behind social isn’t a surprise, and neither is the under 35s seeing social as a number one source for news, as it’s where they’re spending most of their time.
And that’s our key takeaway – this isn’t just about where news is found most, it’s reflective of where people are increasingly spending more of their time.
As a brand, if your social isn’t up to speed then how you’re being perceived won’t be in tip top shape either. Attention spans are shorter than ever, so ineffective hooks and bland branding are going to count against you more than ever.
If you need some ideas on how to get your socials in thumb-stopping mode, visit our resources section.