What Did Pew Measure?
Pew's October 7, 2026 short read reports results from the Pew-Knight Initiative's Cross-Sectional Engagement Survey, which “polled 5,393 adults from July 9 to Dec. 5, 2025.” Respondents could answer online, on paper or by telephone, and Pew contacted non-responders several times in “an attempt to reach people who may be less likely both to take surveys and to participate in public life” (Pew Research Center). The analysis comes from a broader July 2026 report, How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life.
The short read gives the question as “In the past week, have you done any of the following activities online (on a website, social media, or a messaging app)?” The published questionnaire words the web version as “In the past 7 days” and lists three items: “Liked or saved posts about news,” “Publicly posted, shared, or commented about news” and “Privately chatted about or shared news” (Pew questionnaire).
How Much News Engagement Is Public?
% of US adults
Each activity was asked separately (yes or no), so bars do not sum to 100%. Activities could take place "on a website, social media, or a messaging app." Self-reported for the seven days before the survey.
The chart shows a gap of 30 percentage points between private chatting or sharing (56%) and public posting, sharing or commenting (26%). Put another way, for every adult who publicly shared or commented on news in a week, roughly two said they discussed or shared it privately; that ratio is our arithmetic on overlapping answers, not a count of people. Pew calls public engagement “less common” and notes that this “lines up with” its earlier finding that most social media users rarely or never post about political or social issues. The 26% figure also means roughly three in four adults did not publicly post, share or comment about news that week.
Does Age Change the Picture?
| Age group | Private chat or share | Like or save | Public post, share or comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 29 | 65% | 59% | 23% |
| 30 to 49 | 56% | 47% | 26% |
| 50 to 64 | 52% | 42% | 28% |
| 65 and older | 53% | 32% | 25% |
Pew says young adults “are not more likely to publicly post about or share news online” and that “Roughly a quarter of adults across all age groups” did so in the week before the survey. The youngest group is the most active in private and the least likely to post publicly. Pew offers “One possible contributing factor” for the higher private and liking activity among the young: they are more likely to use many online platforms. That is Pew's suggestion, not a tested explanation.
Does Politics Change the Picture?
Pew reports that Republicans and Democrats, including independents who lean toward each party, engage with news online at similar overall rates, but that engagement is in some cases more common “among those at each end of the political spectrum.” Among Democrats, 69% of liberals privately chatted about news against 54% of moderates or conservatives; among Republicans, 58% of conservatives against 50% of moderates or liberals. Public posting was 29% for liberal Democrats and 26% for moderate or conservative Democrats, and 28% for conservative Republicans and 22% for moderate or liberal Republicans (Pew).
What Can't This Survey Tell You?
It does not say what kind of news people shared, which outlets, or whether any of it was about a company or its executives. It also cannot show which articles were passed around in group chats, since private activity leaves no public trace for the publisher or the company to count. Self-reported activity over one week can be misremembered. Fieldwork ended in December 2025, so behavior may have changed since.
What This Means for Anyone Buying a Placement
These points are our recommendations, not Pew's.
- Do not read public share counts as total reach. If most sharing is private, visible shares and comments are a minority signal. They remain useful for comparing articles, but not as an estimate of how many people saw a piece.
- Make the article easy to forward. A plain link to a readable page, with the company named and the claim sourced, is what a person pastes into a message. Check that it is not behind a paywall your audience cannot pass; see our guide on sharing paywalled articles with customers.
- Measure referral traffic, not only social metrics. Links opened from messaging apps may arrive without a referrer. Our guide on tracing visitors to their source explains why some visits arrive without a clear origin.
- Weigh the outlet's credibility. See whether readers trust journalists before relying on a single outlet.
- Paid coverage is advertising. A sponsored article must be labeled and does not buy editorial endorsement or sharing.
Methodology and Limitations
Four limits apply. First, the figures come from Pew's short read, with the question wording checked against the published questionnaire and topline; we did not analyze the dataset. Second, the survey measures engagement with news broadly, not any outlet, article or company. Third, fieldwork ran from July to December 2025, and results are self-reported for a single week. Fourth, Pew's explanation for age differences is a suggestion we did not test, and we draw no conclusion about causes.
Conclusion
Pew's data show that most news sharing happens where a company cannot see it. In a week, 56% of US adults privately chatted about or shared news, and 26% did so in public. A buyer should treat visible engagement as a floor and judge coverage by the outlet's credibility, how easily the link can be forwarded and the traffic that can be measured.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Americans share news privately?
Pew Research Center reports 56% of US adults privately chatted about or shared news online in the past week, in a survey of 5,393 adults fielded July 9 to December 5, 2025.
How many post or comment about news publicly?
26% said they publicly posted, shared or commented about news online in the past week, according to Pew.
Does age predict who posts news publicly?
No. Pew reports roughly a quarter of every age group posted publicly, from 23% of adults 18 to 29 to 28% of those 50 to 64.
Do Republicans and Democrats engage differently with news online?
Overall rates are similar, according to Pew, with higher engagement at each end of the spectrum, such as 69% of liberal Democrats and 58% of conservative Republicans privately chatting about news.
Does this tell me how often my company's coverage is shared?
No. The survey covers news in general and does not measure sharing of a specific article, outlet or company.
Can a paid placement buy sharing?
No. A sponsored article is advertising and must be labeled. Neither payment nor Pew's data guarantees that anyone will share it.
Sources
This report is built from a Pew Research Center short read and the questionnaire and topline of the survey behind it, read on October 14, 2026. Statements about what the findings mean for buyers are house recommendations, not Pew's conclusions. We did not analyze the dataset.
- survey research Pew Research Center, How Do Americans Engage With News Online? Supports every figure, the sample, fieldwork dates and Pew's reading of the results. Read October 14, 2026.
- survey research Pew Research Center, How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life. The broader report the age figures come from. Read October 14, 2026.
- survey research Pew Research Center, Cross-Sectional Engagement Survey questionnaire. Supports the question wording and item labels. Read October 14, 2026.