Only 2% Of Internet Users Get Their Political Info From Twitter

The 2012 US political campaign is in full swing, and the American public is (sort of) eagerly assessing the candidates. But how many of them are using social media for their political education needs? Not that many, it turns out. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press surveyed the American public to see how they were receiving their political news. Cable is the primary media through which Americans get their information - 36 percent in total. Next is local TV news at 34 percent, network TV news at 32 percent... and the internet comes in a distant fourth with just 25 percent of people saying they used it as their primary news source. And of this 25 percent, an even smaller number reports using social media for all of their campaign information needs. Only 5 percent of respondents said they use Twitter to learn about the campaign regularly or sometimes, and only 2 percent use it regularly. And this puts Twitter on the bottom of the social media totem - YouTube is used sometimes or regularly by 15 percent of respondents, and Facebook is used by 20 percent. Twitter is also at the bottom of the pile when it comes to specific resources that Americans find useful for the campaign. Just two percent of respondents said Twitter is their top online resource for campaign news, well below Facebook (5 percent), Google news (13 percent) and CNN (24 percent). Despite trying to set itself apart as the online place for breaking news and doing things like the recent interview with the Vice President, it looks like Twitter hasn't made inroads into the general political news category - yet. (Top image: Petr Malyshev via Shutterstock)

Social Pro Daily

Only 2% Of Internet Users Get Their Political Info From Twitter

Lauren Dugan

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Lauren Dugan