Facebook and Twitter are increasingly perceived by the audience as news sources.

The Pew Research Center has published another report on the state of media and journalism as it approaches social networks.

The main conclusions of the experts who conducted the study are quite simple: with the growing influence of Facebook and Twitter, an increasing number of users perceive social networks as a source of news. Moreover, it is precisely the growth of the user base that plays far from the first role, since the study notes that it is the increased role and depth of content research on the part of existing users that creates such an effect.

Pew experts found that 63% of users, both Facebook and Twitter, reported that they use these social networks to find not only news content, but also materials related to current events and events held in the real world. Facebook Instant Articles and Twitter Project Lightning will only accelerate this process and deepen the user in the news content on each of the sites.

The study should also affect traditional media, as it clearly demonstrates the importance of integrating news and other content flows into social networks. Today, not only young people perceive Facebook and Twitter as a reliable source of information - this phenomenon extends to other age groups, up to men and women 35+ years old.

There is a “fly in the ointment” in the study - most users say that they perceive these resources as “secondary” news sources.