The Growing Impact of News Influencers on the Media Landscape

During the 2024 election, both Republicans and Democrats issued press credentials to content creators so they could cover the parties’ conventions and spread their political messages.

The Pew Research Center calls this emerging breed of reporters news influencers. Pew states that these individuals regularly post about current events and civic issues on social media and have at least 100,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X or YouTube. (Bluesky, which saw a post-election surge in users, did not factor into the Pew results.)

News influencers can be independent content creators or journalists currently or formerly affiliated with a news organization. However, most news influencers (77%) do not have an affiliation or background with a news organization.

According to a Pew survey, about one-in-five Americans — including 37% of adult respondents under 30 — say they regularly get news from influencers on social media. News influencers are most often found on X, where 85% have a presence, followed by Instagram (50%) and YouTube (44%). 

Among Americans who receive news from influencers on social media, a majority (65%) say news influencers have helped them better understand current events and civic issues. People who follow them also report receiving a variety of different types of information from news influencers, ranging from basic facts and opinions to funny posts and breaking news. Significantly more people who follow news influencers say they mostly agree with their opinions (30%) than mostly disagree (2%).

Many news influencers also share content through podcasts (34%) or newsletters (22%), Pew finds. A majority of news influencers (59%) monetize their online presence through subscriptions, donations or merchandise sales.