One-third of adults in the U.S. say they trust the news they get from social media, with 4 percent saying they trust it a lot, according to a new survey.
A Pew Research survey released Thursday found that news from social media was the least trusted of any medium tested.
Thirty-four percent said they trust news from social media, compared with 82 percent trust for local news organizations, 76 percent trust for national news organizations and 77 percent for friends and family.
People are getting more of their news from social media sites, and news organizations of all sizes have relied on platforms like Facebook and Twitter to build their audiences.
The survey found 44 percent of people at least sometimes get news from those platforms.
They survey might not capture the entire picture, however, because news on social media often includes information from news organizations or friends and family.
Nonetheless, there is a near-constant stream of news stories aimed at debunking fake reports that catch traction on social media. And there have been high-profile news mistakes circulated on platforms like Twitter.
The wide-ranging Pew report on news consumption also found a large spike in the number of people reading and viewing news on their mobile phones.
Sixty percent say that they consume news on their phones, with 36 percent saying they do so often. That is a 15-point jump since 2013.
Of those who get their news on a smartphone and computer, 56 percent say they prefer their phone.
The survey polled 4,654 people in January and February. The results were also made up of a dozen smaller surveys in February and March.
[Source:- The Hill]
