Social Media Is Just Mainstream Media Now

From presidential candidates sitting down for podcasts to influencers getting credentialed to cover the Democratic and Republican national conventions for the first time ever, major news broke from all sorts of atypical, digital-first sources in 2024. 

And while the traditional news industry has been threatened by the presence of social media for nearly two decades, new Morning Consult data shows that the latter’s takeover of the former is now undeniably complete: In 2025, the share of Americans who turn to social media for news on a daily basis (48%) is roughly double that of traditional distributors like cable networks (26%) or radio (21%). In other words, social media is no longer just a small portion of Americans’ news diet — it’s the main course. 

A more literal approach to newsfeeds 

Facebook was the first social media platform to introduce a “newsfeed,” which, in its early days, turned users’ homepage into an infinite stream of updates on their friends’ activity within the site, highlighting things like birthdays, upcoming events and profile picture changes. Today, all major platforms feature some version of a newsfeed, albeit they serve much broader — and more important — purposes. The foremost among these? Informing users about everyday happenings. 

Morning Consult’s latest survey of approximately 4,400 U.S, adults found that Americans now rely much more heavily on social media for their daily news consumption than any other source.

Unsurprisingly, Gen Zers — who spend more time online than any other group — are the most embracing of social media as a new source; approximately 3 in 5 members of the young cohort turn to a social platform at least daily for news. (Though according to previous Morning Consult research, they’re far more interested in soft, entertainment-centric news rather than coverage of harder news topics like politics or business.) 

That said, those who identify as Republican were not too far behind (52%). While the conservative right has always enjoyed being online, Elon Musk’s 2022 purchase of X (formerly Twitter) — and subsequent amplification of right-leaning voices on that platform — has almost certainly boosted the importance of social media in Republicans’ content diets in recent years. Plus, Republicans are also among the most likely to report following politicians on social media, according to Morning Consult Intelligence data. 

For their part, relative to the general population and their Republican counterparts, Democrats are much more supportive of traditional media, especially on the broadcast network front. With such stark political divides in consumption habits, any brand considering advertising against news content in 2025 should carefully consider the views of their average customer before executing any media buys, regardless of medium. 

Newsfeeds are forever

The huge gap between social media and all other news sources begs the question: Will the pendulum ever swing back to more traditional channels? As of now, it’s unlikely.

Additional questions in our survey painted a particularly bleak picture for the print news category. Nearly half (47%) of all U.S. adults said they “never” consume news in print and approximately 2 in 3 (64%) reported little to no interest in increasing this behavior. So no, that much buzzed-about print revival isn’t legitimately materializing anytime soon, at least not for hard news. 

Instead, social platforms — and those who have the largest followings within them, namely influencers — are poised to inherit even more power when it comes to deciding what topics get mass attention (and how these topics get discussed). At the same time, social platforms — as well as their leaders and algorithms and governing bodies — are also growing increasingly unpredictable.

This all makes for a challenging environment for brands across all industries to navigate, but none more so than legacy news organizations, which, in addition to modal irrelevance, are also battling a general decrease in consumer interest in news as a product.

Is no news the best news?

When presented with nine news brands operating across several distribution channels, U.S. adults were far more likely to say they don’t read or consume from any of them.

Of the tested brands, CNN came out on top; Twenty-eight percent of U.S. adults reported that they engage with the outlet, which is ultimately still quite a low figure for a major national network, further highlighting the severity of the predicament that most legacy news organizations find themselves in. 

That said, one brand is in notably less dire straits than the rest: The New York Times. The almost 200-year-old publication was the most popular tested title among Gen Zers, a rare win that can be attributed, at least in part, to recent investments in audio and game franchises. It’s also one of the only legacy outlets that continues to grow both its subscriber list and profit margins. 

Still though, the bigger picture is that, by and large, Americans (especially those who identify as Republicans) are opting not to engage with traditional news distributors.

And this raises another question: Is a news-averse consumer a reality-averse consumer? The answer may very well be yes — in which case non-news brands need to be thinking about how their product(s) can support any and all types of escapism. News brands, meanwhile, should lean into young consumer-friendly lifestyle topics and incorporate more on-camera reporting, as video is the format through which a majority of Gen Zers prefer to learn about new topics. Collaborating with (or formally hiring) talent with large, well-established digital audiences is also proving to be a reliable strategy for reviving legacy organizations. 

However, even with such changes, there is still a non-zero chance that the traditional news category eventually fades into total obscurity, just like other industries disrupted by technology before it. When consumers no longer differentiate news from general content — and content tailored specifically to one's unique tastes and worldviews is readily available at no cost — it’s hard to see a sustainable long-term future as it exists today.