Do people seek out news from Facebook?

Whether a person actively or inactively pursues news, it’s readily available in different media channels. Pew Research Center did a study back in September to see how the social media site Facebook acts as a news conduit. eMarketer reported the results.

The study reviewed how the respondents consume news. According to the results, the top two ways people seek out news is watching local TV news and national evening network TV news programs.

Where does Facebook fit? More of the study showed that only a small percentage 16% of respondents go to Facebook for news. The majority log on to see what friends and family are up to at 68% and looking at videos and photos of family and friends at 62%.

Even though the main intention is not to get caught up on current events, it happens. Entertainment news, local, sports, national, political, etc. can creep up into a persons’ news feed. This can lead to people reading or scanning the news while scrolling around the social media website. Research shows that about 80% of Facebook users interact with news stories whilst interacting with other features.

The takeaway from this is that Facebook users do not seek out breaking news, but rather, the intention is to stay caught up with friends and family. Some news may passively be received, but that’s not a guaranteed active audience.