Galen Stocking

I think this Bears team might be the ultimate Chicago team: always down, never out.

Counting Race: How the Census Measures Identity and What Americans Think About It How the U.S. government measures race has changed substantially since censuses began in 1790. Today, Americans differ on whether the government should ask about race.

I love this data essay by some of my @pewresearch.org colleagues looking at how the ways that the U.S. Census has measured race and ethnicity have changed over the country's history and how they're poised to change again in 2030.

Ah when numbers flip from 0 to 1 (or other small number) that’s a symptom of it dealing with really small underlying numbers (before converting to relative) in the sample. Different runs will pull different samples, and sometimes the results are truncated for privacy reasons.

I worked with Andrew on this project. The challenge is that all the numbers it returns are relative (and there’s some randomness). So if you do overlapping time frames, you might get different results for the same day, but you can mostly control for that.

Bluesky has caught on with many news influencers, but X remains popular The share of news influencers in our sample with a Bluesky account roughly doubled in the four months after Election Day 2024, from 21% beforehand to 43% by March.

NEW RESEARCH about Bluesky on Bluesky:
pewrsr.ch/4mDKCrx

- 43% of the news influencers we studied last year are now on Bluesky - but most are also on X (Twitter)
- 69% of left-leaning influencers; 15% of right-leaning ones
- rate of posting increased in 2025

Follow us for news about our research - I promise the main account posts more often than I do!

Also curious! I haven’t seen anything yet

Chart showing differences between creators based on following count. Most popular creators posted more, more frequently, and with longer posts that were more likely to have speech.

From a new look at TikTok content creators: The most popular ones tend to post longer, more often.

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

How news influencers talked about Trump and Harris during the 2024 election Most news influencers published posts about both candidates in summer and fall, and identical shares were more critical than supportive of each.

NEW RESEARCH: Most news influencers talked about Harris and Trump, and identical shares were more critical than supportive of each.

But most posts were more critical of Harris, and right-leaning news influencers tended to post more often than left-leaning ones www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers have acquired Luka Doncic, sources confirm to The Athletic.

LA is sending Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick to the Mavericks for Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris in a three-team deal involving the Jazz.

I’m excited to join this distinguished panel in a few weeks to talk about news influencers! For more info about our work in the area, see our recent report here: pewrsr.ch/4emDUB2

A closer look at Americans’ experiences with news on TikTok Many TikTok accounts mix in news with a variety of other topics, from celebrity gossip to jokes and memes.

As we edge closer to a TikTok ban in the US, a new look at how Americans get news on TikTok: pewrsr.ch/3PG3Hdx

Deadline Extended to January 20th!📢There's still time to submit your #APSA2025 proposals! Join us for the 121st APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition to explore the theme, “Reimagining Politics, Power, and Peoplehood in Crisis Times,” in Vancouver, Canada.

Submit by 1/20! connect.apsanet.org/apsa2025

6 in 10 Americans say people in the U.S. don’t place enough value on men who are caring or open about their emotions

Really interesting Pew study on how Americans see masculinity (www.pewresearch.org/social-trend...). It’s a complicated set of beliefs, but this is striking

www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/u...

This is really great - can’t wait to dive in!

Most Americans continue to say media scrutiny keeps politicians from doing things they shouldn’t Americans continue to say criticism from news organizations keeps political leaders from doing things they shouldn’t.

New from my old team: Americans remain broadly supportive of the watchdog role of journalism, though partisan gaps persist www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Social Media and News Fact Sheet Social media plays a crucial role in Americans' news consumption, with about one-third of adults saying they regularly get news on Facebook and YouTube.

Also, this shows the per site usage for news: www.pewresearch.org/journalism/f...

The vast majority of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, but their traditions and activities vary widely Turkey Day traditions, activities and even preferred dinnertimes vary.

Most Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, and about a third plan on watching sports tomorrow. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

At least 80% of those who get news from influencers say they get each of the following types of news from them: Basic facts, Funny posts, Opinions, and breaking news

People who get news from influencers aren't just getting commentary - they're also getting basic facts, memes, and info about breaking news.

See more here: www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2...

New Study finds that internet use is related to slightly improved mental health among people aged 50+.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is fantastic! Would love to be added.

(The one addendum I'd put on this is that the degree to which framing matters varies considerably by issue, and the mere presence of that volatility -- and how it manifests -- can itself say a lot about strength of opinion and how people are approaching the issue.)

👀

59% of news influencers monetize their content in some way

I don't know what will happen in that area, but I can say that we found that most news influencers are already monetizing their content in some way (we did not look at sponsorships)

Read more here: www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2...

America’s News Influencers This study explores the makeup of the social media news influencer universe, including who they are, what content they create and who their audiences are.

There is so, so much more in this report. It's a big, multi-method look at this important part of the political landscape, and it tackles questions about news influencers from the supply and demand side.

Giant thanks to everyone who pulled this across the finish line! pewrsr.ch/4emDUB2

65% of news influencer audiences say the info helps them better understand current events; 70% say the info is at least somewhat different

Audiences tend to report positive experiences when getting news from news influencers:
- 65% say news influencers help them better understand current events
- 70% say that news is at least somewhat different than news they would get elsewhere
- 31% feel connected to a news influencer

But there's almost no partisan difference in audiences - Democrats and Republicans regularly get news from news influencers at roughly equal rates (22% D / 21% R)

27% of news influencers lean right while 21% lean left, and 48% could not be determined

We could only find a clearly stated partisan orientation for about half of the 500 news influencers we studied, but among those, there is a slight lean to the political right - 27% vs 21%.

What about partisanship?

Who are news influencers?
- Mostly men (63%)
- Often voices from outside the news industry - 77% have never had an affiliation with a news org
- Most (85%) have an account on X (as of summer 2024)
- 34% host a podcast
- 22% have a newsletter