Social media influencers were a hot topic during the 2024 presidential race as both parties courted creators ahead of the election. Now, a new Pew Research Center survey reveals just how impactful so-called news influencers are in the current information ecosystem.
About 21% of U.S. adults are turning to news influencers for information, with most saying creators “helped them better understand current events and civic issues,” according to the study.
The number was higher among young adults, with 37% of people ages 18 to 29 saying they turn to influencers for news.
Pew surveyed 10,000 adults and analyzed 500 news influencers, which it defined as individuals who regularly post about current events and have over 100,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube.
“News influencers have emerged as one of the key alternatives to traditional outlets as a news and information source for a lot of people, especially younger folks,” said the study’s co-author Galen Stocking, a senior computational social scientist at Pew Research Center, in a news release. “And these influencers have really reached new levels of attention and prominence this year amid the presidential election.”
The rise of social media influencers, and in particular news-focused creators, has been slowly embraced by politicians in recent years. Almost a decade ago, then-President Barack Obama surprised some by granting interviews to major YouTube creators.
Since then, the influencer world has continued to grow, culminating in an election cycle in which everyone from long-form podcasters to short-form video creators landed candidate interviews, generating hundreds of millions of views.
This year’s Democratic convention in Chicago was the first to open its doors to social media content creators, credentialing 200 of them for the four-day event in an effort to connect with younger audiences. The Republican convention in Milwaukee hosted more than 70 influencers as part of a content creator program.
Throughout the election, young creators were also driving messaging to their audiences on political topics, including Project 2025, a conservative policy road map from the Heritage Foundation aimed at laying the groundwork for a future Republican administration.
Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris both appeared on podcasts hosted by popular online personalities ahead of the election. Trump, now the president-elect, was a guest on various shows appealing to men including “This Past Weekend With Theo Von” and “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Meanwhile, Harris was on an episode of “Call Her Daddy,” a podcast hosted by Alex Cooper that is popular with women.
During Trump’s celebration on election night, social media personalities including Rogan, Von, the Nelk Boys, Adin Ross and the hosts of podcast “Bussin’ With the Boys” were given a shoutout onstage by Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White.
After Trump’s win, there was debate on the left over how to appeal to young people. Some suggested ways to amplify left-leaning spaces online, including the creation of a Democratic version of Rogan.
Across platforms, Pew found that male news influencers outnumber women roughly 2-to-1, and influencers with an explicit political orientation lean conservative. The exception is TikTok, where the gender gap is 5% and news influencers with an explicit political orientation lean liberal.
X is the most popular platform among news influencers, with 85% having accounts on the platform. Instagram was the second-most popular site, with 50% of influencers having accounts. Most influencers use more than one platform to post, according to the study.
Only 23% of news influencers have experience in the news industry. These influencers are less likely to express a clear political opinion, according to the study. Meanwhile, influencers without a background in media are more likely to take a stance and link themselves with various identities such as LGBTQ.
The survey was a part of the Pew-Knight Initiative, which is a partnership between Pew and the Knight Foundation. The Pew-Knight Initiative supports research about how Americans get information about civic issues, engage with their communities and form their beliefs.
