News on Social Media Boosts Knowledge, Belief Accuracy, and Trust: A Field Experiment on Instagram and WhatsApp

Many worry that social media leaves people uninformed or even misinformed. Can people actually learn from following the news on social media? We conducted a preregistered two-wave online field experiment in France and Germany (N = 3,395) to estimate the effect of following the news on Instagram and WhatsApp. Participants were asked to follow two accounts for two weeks and activate the notifications. In the treatment condition the accounts were news-related whereas in the control they were not. Our results show that news consumption on social media has positive consequences: it enhances news knowledge, participants’ ability to discern true from false news stories, awareness of true news stories, as well as trust in the news. The treatment had no significant effects on feeling of being informed, political efficacy, affective polarization, and interest in news or politics. These results suggest that, contrary to popular belief, people actually learn from news on social media and that this form of news consumption should not be dismissed or disdained. While some forms of social media use are harmful, others are positive and can be leveraged to foster a well-informed society.