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Many Americans are receiving Ukraine news via social media.

 

According to new data from the National Research Group (NRG) exclusively provided to The Hill.

 Almost as many Americans get news about the Russia-Ukraine conflict from social media as from television networks.

 

In a poll of Americans aged 13 to 54, 58 per cent said they learned about the conflict from social media, compared to 65 per cent who got their news from television.

 

The survey was administered to volunteer samples in 12 countries between March 7 and March 20: 

• The United States 
• The United Kingdom
• Germany
• France 
• Italy 
• Spain 
• Australia
• Japan
• South Korea
• China
• Mexico
• Brazil

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"The vast majority of people in these countries are watching the news from Russia and Ukraine," said Matt Blong, NRG's senior vice president of global tracking.

 

18- to 24-year-olds received more news from social media than from television, both globally and in the United States.

"You're seeing that those 18- to 24-year-olds are more socially active on social media, and that's the content that they trust, for better or worse. 

The opinions of the people they follow on social media," Blong said to The Hill.

 

The majority of 18- to 24-year-olds in the United States (78%) learned about the crisis from social media, while 46% learned about it from television.

In comparison, globally, 67 per cent of the age group found Russia-Ukraine news on social media, while 59 per cent learned about it from television.

 

In regards to social media, NRG Chief Marketing Officer Grady Miller said, "What I see is much more advocacy-related conversations and discussions of solution-oriented activities that are happening. 

It tends to be more about what's being done on a more grassroots level, and it's much more about solutions than simply reporting on the latest events of the day."

 

According to the researchers, the rates of news gathering via social media were particularly high in China and the two Latin American countries surveyed, Mexico and Brazil.

 

While the majority of respondents worldwide expressed support for Ukraine, Chinese respondents were more likely than others to support the Russian invasion and to come across pro-Russia content on social media.

Nonetheless support for Ukraine was significantly higher on a global scale.

 

"Across most of our markets, or essentially all of our markets," Blong said, "the support for the Ukraine side of it is overwhelmingly strong. Almost the vast majority of our markets are supporting that side."