Dive Brief:
- A Pew Research Center post-election survey found that election result tracking on social media rose from 8% in 2012 to 21% this year.
- TV remains the most popular way to track election results by far at 88%, but that number was down from 92% four years ago. Digital channels accounted for 48% of election tracking activity, up from 34%.
- The differences by age demographic was dramatic with 79% of those under 35 turning to digital channels, including 41% who followed on social media. Among the 65 and older group, only 19% tracked the election results online and a mere 7% on social media.
Dive Insight:
Although presidential election years are fairly unique media experiences, marketers can look to Pew’s survey results to validate trends that have already been fairly uncovered – namely younger people are more likely to engage on digital platforms as well as take part in second screening. As the earliest digital natives get older these trends will likely only accelerate, including further driving the importance of social media.
Social media's growing role in tracking newsworthy events like elections doesn't come without pitfalls. In the wake of the recent presidential election, there have been claims that the volume of unreliable and fake news sources on social media may have swayed the results. While these assertions may be difficult to verify, the new research from Pew underscores just how big a role social media is playing. The blowback has been significant enough to force Facebook to lay out a plan for how it hopes to address fake news on its site.
One major shift between 2012 and 2016 revealed by Pew's research was the number of people who tracked results on both TV and online. TV only dropped from 65% to 51%, while both TV and online rose from 27% to 37%. Online only also rose from 6% to 11%. Even though social media significantly trailed TV, it made up a significant portion of digital platform activity, and more than doubled over 2012 illustrating how social media platforms are becoming an important news source for users.