Majority says social media not important for vaccine news
Social media’s importance for covid vaccine information has been discussed with President Joe Biden accusing social media of not doing enough to stop misinformation about the vaccines. A new survey shows that 51% in the US say they have not been getting much news or none at all about the vaccines via social media, according to a survey made by Pew Research Centre in July/August.
30% say they got some news and information about the vaccines that way while 18% say they got a lot. 20% said not much and 31% said none at all.
Younger Americans and women are more likely than older Americans and men, respectively, to get vaccine news and information on social media and to say it’s an important way for them to get this type of news, according to the survey. However, much of that is tied to the fact that these individuals are more likely to use social media for news in the first place.
While about half of US adults get some or a lot of vaccine news on social media, just 6% find it the most important way, and 33% say it’s important but not the most important way, the survey shows.
60% say social media is not an important way to keep up with the vaccine news. This includes the 31% who don’t get any vaccine information on social media at all.
Not surprisingly, the share who say social media is an important source of vaccine news increases among those who regularly go to social media platforms for news.
Among the 53% who say they regularly get news from at least one of the 10 social media sites asked about, 30% say they have gotten a lot and 43% say some news and information about vaccines on social media. Just 11% say it is the most important way to keep up with news about the vaccines.
”Looking at individual social media sites, the vast majority of Americans who regularly get news from each site get at least some vaccine-related news on social media, and many get a lot. About four-in-ten Americans who regularly get news on Snapchat (39%) and Instagram (40%) say they have been getting a lot of vaccine-related news and information on social media.”
”The same is true of about a third of Americans who regularly get news on Twitter, on Facebook and on TikTok. Closer to three-in-ten of those who regularly get news on LinkedIn, on YouTube and on Reddit say they are getting a lot of news about COVID-19 vaccines on social media.”
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