Public using social media less for coronavirus news, Ofcom survey suggests

People are using social media less as a source of coronavirus information since lockdown began, according to Ofcom data.

All means of news consumption about the pandemic have dropped off slightly, but social media experienced one of the biggest falls, with just over a third (38%) saying they used it for updates last week.

That is compared to half of people (49%) at the start of the lockdown.

Facebook and Facebook Messenger specifically lost 10% of appeal between week one and week 11 among the 2,000 adults surveyed, while WhatsApp went from 17% to 9%.

It comes as the public appeared to show a gradual slowdown in interest about coronavirus-related news, with those checking once a day or a few times a week on the rise, compared to a fall in those seeking more than five updates a day.

People who check two to four times a day remained the largest share, at 37%.

Elsewhere, the study suggests more people are confused about what they should be doing in response to Covid-19, up from 17% at the beginning, to 25% today.