LEARN ALL ABOUT X NEWS AUDIENCES.
New research from the Reuters Institute:
Dr. Craig T. Robertson
Twitter, the platform now known as X, has undergone many changes in 2023. Since the acquisition by Elon Musk in October 2022, many of the platform's features have changed or been removed, and it has received a total rebrand. When it comes to news and news organizations on the platform, big changes have included overhauling the verified checkmark system and removing news headlines from article links.
Given the rapid pace of change, it's hard to say what the future of X news will be. But we can look back at what we've learned about Twitter from 10 years of Digital News Report survey data, especially what we know about how the platform is used for news. All of the survey questions were asked while the platform was known as Twitter, so these findings relate to Twitter and, therefore, we will use "Twitter" throughout most of this article. Many findings are likely to continue to apply to X, so we will refer to them in the present tense for now. Others, however, will need to be revisited as a new consensus of available research emerges.
Key findings from our research (and from work done by others) include:
-The user base for Twitter in general and for news is not representative of the general population, as a minority in all countries use the platform.
-Twitter users are more likely to be male than users of other social networking platforms. Users also tend to be more affluent and educated, as well as more interested in news and politics. But users of the platform are not more partisan than users of other platforms (nor more partisan in markets like the U.S. than the population we surveyed).
-Twitter usage for news is highest in Asian and Latin American markets, with the lowest usage in continental Europe.
-Although the platform has undergone many changes, use of Twitter for any purpose and for receiving news has remained remarkably stable in our data over the past 10 years.
-Twitter, compared to other platforms, is seen as more of a destination for news, particularly news about politics from mainstream brands, smaller/alternative sources and politicians.
-There is some evidence that people form partisan and like-minded communities clustered around some political issues on Twitter. However, research also indicates that users are likely to be exposed to more diverse news and perspectives as a result of using the platform.
-While misinformation circulates on Twitter and there are legitimate concerns about it, previous research indicates that the prevalence and extent of misinformation has been more limited than previously assumed. However, empirical research has not yet studied the effect of recent changes to the platform.
