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There's a gender gap among news influencers on social media, new Pew data shows

Business Insider · 1m

A new study from the Pew Research Center shows that male influencers outnumber female creators in delivering news on social media. The study analyzed a sample set of 500 news influencers with at least 100,000 followers and found that 63% were male and 30% were female. This gender gap is notable considering that there is a narrower gender divide among working US journalists and women tend to outnumber men in the influencer industry generally. The gender gap among social media news influencers could have an impact on what stories reach the public as creators take on a larger role in educating people about current events. This was seen in the 2024 US presidential election, where both parties targeted influencers to generate content around their campaigns. The study also revealed that there was a smaller gender gap in the overall audience for news content on social media among young people. While the influencers delivering news skewed slightly conservative, only around half of them explicitly shared their political orientation. As traditional newsrooms lose some trust, creators have become more influential in shaping the information landscape. Trust in information from national news organizations has decreased, while trust in information from social media has remained steady. YouTube had the biggest gender gap among news influencers, while TikTok's gap was minimal. TikTok has become an important news source for young adults, who use the platform for news commentary and on-the-ground videos related to current events.