More than 10 million Dutch people follow the news via social media. 6 million Dutch people do this every day. This is according to research by Newcom.
Newcom conducted research into Dutch social media users aged 15 and older. More than 7,000 respondents took part in the survey. There are 6 million Dutch (42% of those surveyed) who follow the news daily via socials. About 4.3 million Dutch people (30% of respondents) follow the news via social media, but not daily. About 3.4 million Dutch people say they do not follow news via social media (24% of respondents) and half a million Dutch people (4% of respondents) indicate that they do not use social media.
72% of all Dutch people use social media to follow news
Social Media is according to the report from Newcom an important source of news for more than 10 million Dutch people, that is 72% of the respondents. It is mainly Twitter, Reddit, Facebook and TikTok that are used for news.
Important news sources in the Netherlands
In the report, respondents were also asked about other news sources:
- 66%: TV (news and current affairs programmes)
- 50%: News sites and apps
- 50%: Radio
- 41%: Talk show on TV
- 34%: Free local or regional newspapers
- 30%: Paid daily newspapers
- 26%: Regional broadcaster
- 22%: Teletext
- 9%: Podcasts
- 8%: Opinions
- 7%: Blogs and vlogs
Young people have little interest in the news
Young people have relatively little interest in following news and consume a relatively large part of this via social media. 31% of young people between the ages of 16 and 24 say they are not very interested in the news or are themselves very interested in the news. This percentage decreases as age increases. These findings are in line with an earlier report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2019) which shows that young people hardly use news apps and much more news consumption takes place via social media.
Follow news by age
There is a big difference in news consumption per medium per age category. Following news via social media is mainly used by young people up to the age of 24 (87%). This group consumes news to a much lesser extent via news bulletins and current affairs programs on TV (44%) and hardly ever via the paid daily newspapers (11%).
In the oldest age group of 75+ you still see a preference for traditional media channels for the consumption of news. TV bulletins and current affairs programs score highest here (83%), followed by paid daily newspapers (65%). The elderly also consume news via social media. The percentage is 60%).
Confidence in news per channel
The report also asked to what extent users trust the news. And then you see that although the use of social media is very high, the trust of news via social media enjoys little trust. Only 13% of respondents say they have a lot or a lot of confidence in news messages on social media. Compare that with 57% of respondents who indicate that they have confidence in news reports via national media. The research states that 6 out of 10 Dutch people who follow news via social media are concerned about fake news. Young people are also less concerned (46%) about fake news than older people (73%).
Read Newcom’s full report here: 2022 – Follow news via Social Media