How Americans Engage With News Online: Private Sharing Dominates, Public Posting Lags, Pew Survey Finds
Digital devices have become the primary gateway to news for most Americans, according to recent research from Pew Research Center. But the ways people interact with journalism once they encounter it vary widely—and new data show that most online news engagement happens in quieter, more private spaces rather than on public feeds.
A new Pew Research Center survey conducted through the Pew-Knight Initiative finds that a majority of U.S. adults engage with news online in private ways, such as chatting about a story with friends or family in a messaging app. Public forms of engagement—like posting a news link on a social media profile or commenting on a public thread—are far less common. The findings offer a nuanced look at how Americans absorb and respond to the news in an era when digital platforms have become central to civic information and community life.
Private Engagement Is the Most Common Form of Online News Interaction
In the survey, 56% of Americans said they had privately chatted about or shared news online in the week before they were interviewed. This was the most common form of online news engagement measured. A similar yet slightly smaller share, 45%, said they had liked or saved posts about news during that same period. These actions are not always entirely invisible—some likes and saves can be seen by others depending on the platform—but they tend to be less conspicuous than making a public statement about a news story.
By contrast, public engagement with news online was considerably less common. Only 26% of U.S. adults said they had publicly posted, shared, or commented about news in the week prior to the survey. This pattern aligns with earlier Pew Research Center findings showing that most Americans who use social media rarely or never post or share about political or social issues.
The distinction between private and public engagement matters, researchers say, because it reveals how Americans are participating in civic life. Private sharing may reflect conversations that happen in trusted circles—family group chats, direct messages, or closed messaging apps. Public posting, meanwhile, involves a larger stage and potentially more scrutiny, which may discourage some people from participating.
Political Ideology and Online News Engagement
When looking at partisanship, the survey found that Republicans and Democrats—including independents who lean toward each party—engage with news online at broadly similar rates. But the picture becomes more interesting when ideology is taken into account. In both parties, those with more ideologically extreme positions were more likely to say they engaged with news online in certain ways.
For example, 69% of liberal Democrats said they had privately chatted about or shared news online in the week before the survey. That is significantly higher than the 54% of moderate or conservative Democrats who said the same. Among Republicans, the pattern was similar. Conservative Republicans were more likely than moderate or liberal Republicans to say they had privately chatted about or shared news online: 58% versus 50%.
A similar ideological divide appeared when looking at liking or saving news posts. Fifty-five percent of liberal Democrats said they had liked or saved posts about news in the prior week, compared with 42% of moderate or conservative Democrats. Among Republicans, 47% of conservative Republicans said they had done this, compared with 39% of moderate or liberal Republicans.
Public engagement with news followed a somewhat different pattern. Liberal Democrats were slightly more likely than moderate or conservative Democrats to say they had publicly posted, shared, or commented about news: 29% versus 26%. Among Republicans, conservative Republicans were more likely than their moderate or liberal counterparts to publicly engage, with 28% saying they had done so compared with 22%. The differences are notable, though they show that public news engagement is a minority activity even among the most ideologically engaged groups.
These findings suggest that people at either end of the political spectrum are more motivated to engage with online news than those in the political middle. This could be because people with stronger ideological convictions feel a greater desire to share information, signal their beliefs, or participate in political conversation.
Young Adults Are More Likely to Engage Privately—But Not Publicly
Age also played a role in how Americans engage with news online, especially when it comes to private forms of interaction. Younger adults were far more likely than older adults to say they had privately chatted about or shared news online. Among adults ages 18 to 29, 65% said they had done this in the week before the survey. That share fell to 56% among adults ages 30 to 49, and to 52% among those ages 50 to 64. Interestingly, adults 65 and older were close behind, with 53% saying they had privately discussed or shared news online.
Liking or saving posts about news showed an even clearer age gradient. Fifty-nine percent of adults under 30 said they had liked or saved news posts in the prior week, compared with 47% of adults in their 30s and 40s, 42% of those ages 50 to 64, and only 32% of those 65 and older. One likely reason for the age gap, researchers noted, is that younger adults are more likely than older adults to use a wide range of online platforms, making such interactions more accessible and natural.
But the age differences largely disappeared when it came to public engagement. Roughly a quarter of adults in every age group said they had publicly posted, shared, or commented about news online in the week before the survey. The shares ranged from 23% among adults ages 18 to 29 to 28% among those ages 50 to 64. Adults 65 and older were close behind, at 25%, and those ages 30 to 49 came in at 26%.
The fact that young adults are more likely to engage privately but not publicly suggests that the generational shift in news behavior is not simply about being more outgoing online. Instead, younger Americans may prefer to discuss news in more controlled, intimate spaces, such as group chats or direct messages, where they can share opinions without the lasting visibility and potential backlash of a public post.
About the Survey and the Pew-Knight Initiative
The findings come from a Pew Research Center survey conducted as part of the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program that examines how Americans absorb civic information, form beliefs and identities, and engage in their communities. The initiative is jointly funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The data for this analysis were drawn from the Cross-Sectional Engagement Survey, which polled 5,393 U.S. adults between July 9 and December 5, 2025. Respondents were given the option to complete the survey online, on paper, or by telephone. Researchers made multiple contact attempts to people who did not initially respond, with the goal of reaching individuals who may be less likely to participate in surveys or in public life. This effort was designed to ensure the results reflect a broad cross-section of Americans, including those who may not be highly engaged in civic or community activities.
The analysis focused on one specific aspect of participation in public life: how people consume and respond to online news. It was part of a larger project studying how Americans participate in public life in different ways, from voting and volunteering to following the news and taking part in religious or community activities.
The full survey question asked respondents whether, in the past week, they had done any of the following activities online—on a website, social media, or a messaging app: privately chatted about or shared news; liked or saved posts about news; or publicly posted, shared, or commented about news.
The findings paint a clear picture: Americans are more likely to engage with news in the background of their daily digital lives—through private messages and quiet interactions—than they are to make their news consumption visible to the wider world. As online platforms continue to evolve, understanding these patterns will be important for anyone seeking to understand how civic information spreads and how Americans form and express their beliefs.
