The number of people using Facebook as a news source is down by 9% overall from 2017 highs and down a whopping 20% among younger audiences, a Reuters Institute survey has found. Researchers behind the study partly blame the fall in news consumption on social media apps like Facebook on the popularity of messaging apps, like Facebook’s own WhatsApp. The researchers point out that while many still use Facebook and Twitter to discover news, they then post links to the news article in private WhatsApp groups where they feel safe discussing the subject among friends. As one researcher in the study put it:
“The use of social media for news has started to fall in a number of key markets after years of continuous growth. We continue to see a rise in the use of messaging apps for news as consumers look for more private (and less confrontational) spaces to communicate.”
