The media landscape is experiencing seismic vibrations, in case you haven’t noticed. Vesuvius has yet to erupt, but a Pew Research Center study, neatly summarized by the Institute for Public Relations, suggests that such an event might be in the works.

The study of 500 “news influencers” — definition to follow — finds that 77% of these molders of public opinion have zero affiliation or background with a news organization.

So — Who Are They?

They’re not seasoned reporters who have covered national politics for The Washington Post for the past 30 years and actually know which Metro stops are located closest to the U.S. Capitol; they’re more likely to be young guys in their sweatpants or gym shorts — 63% are men — sounding off on the big events of the day with no journalistic training, much less academic expertise, at all. George Will they’re not. There’s Heather Cox Richardson, Matt Taibbi and Andrew Sullivan, of course, but most of them are names that even political junkies might not recognize.

Pew uses the term “news influencers” to mean “individuals who regularly post about current events and civic issues on social media and have at least 100,000 followers on any of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) or YouTube.” They “can be journalists who are or were affiliated with a news organization,” but most are not. These “independent content creators” cannot be organizations. They “must be people.” That’s reassuring. 

The analysis looked at more than 28,000 social media accounts and surveyed more than 10,000 Americans, finding — among other factoids — that 85% of influencers are on X, 50% on Instagram and 44% on YouTube.

Among other tidbits:

• Only 30% of influencers are women.
• 65% of survey participants who get their news from influencers say their posts helped them better understand current events.
• One in five Americans regularly get their news from influencers on social media, and a higher percentage (37%) are under 30.
• Slightly more influencers (27%) describe themselves as Republican, conservative and/or pro-Donald Trump than Democrat, liberal or pro-Kamala Harris (21%).

Political campaign professionals have been tracking these developments even if most Americans have not. As the Pew study reports, during the 2024 election, “Both Republicans and Democrats credentialed content creators to cover their conventions [and] encouraged influencers to share their political messages. Influencers also interviewed the candidates and held fundraisers for them.”