By the Numbers: Americans love to get news from TikTok – but not how you expect

Haven’t heard enough about TikTok this week?

Even as the popular app undergoes seismic shifts and massive questions about its future, it remains an important source of information for millions of Americans. That’s why the possibility off it disappearing is so unsettling to so many.

According to Pew Research, just over half of TikTok users (52%) use the app for news.

But that news doesn’t look quite like you might expect.

According to a Pew Research analysis, 14% of all U.S. adults follow at least five accounts connected to a journalist, newsroom or pundits. These would be, of course, the traditional source of news in many people’s minds. But on TikTok, those rules just don’t apply.

Again, we know that 52% of TikTok users look at news. But only 14% follow news accounts. So where are the others getting their information?

That same analysis found that 53% of American adults follow at least five non-journalist accounts that post about politics while 41% follow at least five non-journalist accounts that post about news.

This is an interesting dichotomy, particularly that Americans are more interested in politics than general news. For many PR professionals who describe themselves as “news junkies,” having one without the other can seem counterintuitive. But it gives a revealing glimpse into the mind and priorities of the average TikTok user, who seem to be, in general, more interested in the fights and spectacles that make up politics versus the events that underpin and propel that political landscape.

Who TikTok users trust for news

So, who exactly are these users following for news and politics, if not journalists?

The number one source isn’t influencers. It’s not friends or family. No, 84% of TikTok news consumers say they get news on the app from people they don’t know personally.

Just people. Random people served to them by the algorithm, talking about the news or politics of the day.

This poses a number of challenges for PR professionals. One of those is identifying these people in the first place. Another is figuring out how to form relationships with them. With journalists or influencers, there are clear rules of engagement and understandings of how the relationships work. In many cases, there are strong codes of ethics that help both sides define their interactions. But when anyone on TikTok can go megaviral overnight, there are fewer opportunities to get your organization’s message in front of them, either in a paid capacity or through more traditional earned media techniques, to share that with their audiences.

Now, journalists and influencers remain an important part of the TikTok information ecosystem. Of those who get news from TikTok, 68% get it from influencers or celebrities while 67% get it from journalists (but they may not follow those accounts directly). So, outreach to these accounts is still important and can help you reach large audiences. But they’re not the central part of how people get their news on TikTok.

What kinds of news people want on the app

It may surprise you to find that traditional news articles are popular even on a video-centric app. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents said that text-based news articles being (re)posted, screenshotted or linked to make up part of their news consumption on TikTok. Another 55% say they find breaking news on the app. But far more popular and common, respondents said, were funny posts about current events (84%) and opinion content (80%).

In other words, we’ve expanded beyond just the news section of the newspaper and into opinion and the funny pages.

Viewing news on TikTok in a traditional, myopic way is unlikely to yield good media relations results on the app. And that might be frightening for more traditional brands that have operated in a certain way for decades. But for those willing to be bold and work with personalities of all kinds – journalists, influencers and random folks – in ways that push the boundaries of what we understand to be news, the benefits can be profound.

If TikTok sticks around, anyway.

For more on the social media landscape, attend Ragan’s Social Media Conference at Walt Disney World from March 19-21.  

Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.