The 'typical adult' follows no politicians or journalists on TikTok, survey finds

Ahead of the 2024 presidential election there has been much speculation about where U.S. voters are getting their news and engaging with candidates. A new survey suggests that TikTok might not be that place.

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Pew Research Center analyzed 664 adult TikTok users in the U.S. and concluded that "the typical U.S. adult on TikTok" follows no politicians, civil actors, traditional media outlets, or journalists. Each of those categories — the Pew study grouped who users followed into types of accounts — made up less than half a percent of the total accounts followed by surveyed users. For instance, just 0.4 percent of the followed accounts belonged to journalist, pundits, or traditional media outlets. Instead, TikTok users tend to follow accounts that post about pop culture and entertainment — which made up 56 percent of accounts followed in the study.

But TikTok accounts can be challenging to pigeon-hole into one topic. Many TikTokkers occupy a niche of pop culture news, vlogs, or dance content, while also pivoting their content to speak about political issues they are passionate about. For example, many content creators participated in initiatives supporting Palestine like Operation Olive Branch and Creators for Palestine. Pew Research Center found that 43 percent of surveyed users follow accounts that post a mix of pop culture and entertainment news as well as politics.

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The study also focused on who users follow, which can be different that what content a TikTok user is actually interacting with regularly. That's because the For You Page surfaces content to users based on an algorithm that reigns supreme on the platform. A previous study conducted by Pew Research Center found that 39 percent of adults under 30 get their news on the platform. The combination of the studies suggests that users don't necessarily rely on trusted sources that they follow to keep up with the news.

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Pew Research Center surveyed 664 adult TikTok users in the U.S., collecting data in April and June 2024. The first collection took place before Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump launched their TikTok accounts. The second collection of data was less than two weeks after Trump created his account and before Harris joined the platform.