Canadians Believe Social Media is Fake

Toronto, June 25th – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 1619 Canadians, one-fifth of respondents (21%) don’t use social media at all, one-fifth of respondents (21%) use it less than thirty minutes a day, one-fifth (20%) use it more than thirty minutes but less than an hour, one fifth (20%) use it between one hour and two hours, one-tenth (9%) use it more than two hours but less than three, and another tenth (10%) use it 3 hours or more.

Respondents more likely to not use social media include those aged 65 and over (44%), males (23%), those earning less than $20,000 (27%) and $20,000-$40,000 (26%), and those living in Quebec (27%).

Respondents more likely to use social media less than thirty minutes include those aged 55 to 64 (28%), males (23%), earning $80,000-$100,000 (25%), those with post-graduate degrees (25%), those living in Manitoba/Saskatchewan (29%), more likely not to use social media everyday (75%), and most likely to spend their time using LinkedIn (63%).

Respondents more likely to use social media the most (3 hours+) include those aged 18 to 34 (21%), females (12%), those earning less than $20,000 (18%), those with secondary school or less (14%) and those who completed college or university (11%), are more likely to use social media more than 10 times per day (42%), and are more likely to use Snapchat (25%).

Younger respondents and Snapchat users use social media more frequently per day

One-sixth of respondents (15%) don’t look at social media every day, another sixth (16%) look at social media once per day, one-third of respondents (33%) look at social media 2-5 times a day, one-fifth (19%) use social media 6-10 times per day, another fifth (18%) use social media more than 10 times per day.

Those not likely to use social media every day include those aged 65 and over (30%), earning less than $20,000 (19%) and $20,000 to $40,000 (18%), those living in British Columbia (18%), Alberta (17%), and Manitoba/Saskatchewan (17%), are more likely to use social media less than 30 minutes (42%), and those more likely to use LinkedIn (39%) and Pinterest (38%) the most.





Those more likely to use social media more frequently (10 times plus per day) include those aged 18 to 34 (32%), those earning less than $20,000 (25%) and $80,000 to $100,00 (20%), those living in Atlantic Canada (25%) and Alberta (24%), are more likely to use social media for 3 hours or more (60%), and those more likely to use Snapchat (38%).

Those less likely to post on social media check LinkedIn the most

One-fifth of respondents (19%) never post on social media, one-third (30%) post every few months, one-fifth (22%) post every few weeks, another fifth (17%) post weekly, one-tenth (9%) post daily, and a few (4%) post multiple times per day.

Those more likely to never post include those aged 65 and over (35%), those living in Manitoba/Saskatchewan (23%), Ontario (20%), Quebec (21%), those who use social media less than 30 minutes (34%),those who do not to use social media every day (41%), those who use Pinterest (40%) the most and Linkedin (37%) the most.

Those more likely to post every few weeks include those aged 35 to 44 (27%), those living in Atlantic Canada (27%) and British Columbia (25%), those more likely to check social media 5 times per day (27%), and those more likely to look at Twitter (27%), Instagram (25%), and Pinterest (26%).

Facebook is used by older Canadians and Instagram is used by younger Canadians

A majority of respondents (59%) use Facebook the most, one-sixth (15%) use Instagram the most, one-tenth (8%) use Twitter the most, another tenth (7%) use something else, and a few use LinkedIn (4%), Snapchat (3%), Pinterest (3%), and Tumblr (1%).

Those more likely to use Facebook include those aged 55 to 64 (72%) and 65 and over (72%), females (63%), those earning $20,000 to $40,000 (69%), those living in Quebec (76%), those more likely to use social media 30 to 59 minutes (66%) and 1 to 2 hours (64%), and those more likely to check social media 2 to 5 times per day (65%).





Those more likely to use Instagram include those aged 18 to 34 (29%), those living in Ontario (19%), British Columbia (19%), and Atlantic Canada (17%), those more likely to use social media 2 to 3 hours (27%), and those more likely to check social media 6 to 10 times per day (22%) or more than 10 times (22%).

Highly educated respondents are less likely to trust social media

Most respondents (BTM2: 65%) do not trust social media with one-third (34%) saying they trust it a little and another third (32%) saying not at all. The third (TOP2: 31%) that does trust social media a few (4%) trust it a lot and almost a third (27%) trust it somewhat. A few (4%) are not sure.

Those less likely to trust social media include those aged 18-34 (67%), 55 to 64 (67%), and 65 and over (70%), males (67%), respondents with some college or university and above (68% of those with some college or university, 65% of those who completed college or university, and 66% of those with post-graduate degrees), those living in Atlantic Canada (68%), Ontario (70%), and Manitoba/Saskatchewan (68%), those who do not use social media at all (86%), those who do not to use it every day (81%), and those who use Instagram (71%), Snapchat (70%), and Pinterest (71%).

Those more likely to trust social media include those aged 35 to 44 (39%), those earning $80,000 to $100,000 (37%) and $20,000 to $40,000 (35%), those with secondary school or less (36%), those living in Quebec (39%), those who use social media for 2 to 3 hours (51%), use social media more than 10 times per day (49%), and use LinkedIn (41%), Facebook (40%), and Twitter (40%).

Half say Facebook is half true and half fake news

One-third of respondents (BTM2: 33%) think that what they see on Facebook is fake news, with less than a third (26%) saying it is mostly fake news and a few (7%) saying it’s all fake news. About a half (55%) of respondents say it’s about half true and half fake news and one-tenth (13%) say news on Facebook is true with a tenth (11%) saying mostly true and a few (2%) saying it’s all true.

Those more likely to say what they see on Facebook is fake news include those aged 18-34 (37%), males (37%), those earning $40,000 to $60,000 (38%), those with post-graduate degrees (39%), those who don’t use social media at all (51%), and those who use Instagram (43%) and Snapchat (40%).





Those more likely to say what they see on Facebook is not fake news include those aged 55 and over (16% of those 55 to 64 and 17% of those 65 and over), those with some college or university (18%) and with secondary school or less (16%), those living in Atlantic Canada (18%), those that use social media once per day (20%) or not every day (18%), and use Snapchat (19%), LinkedIn (16%), and Facebook (16%).

Those more likely to say it’s about half true and half fake news include those aged 35 to 44, females (59%), those earning $60,000 to $80,000 (62%) and $20,000 to $40,00 (59%), those who completed college or university (59%), those living in Quebec (59%) and British Columbia (56%), spend between 30 minutes to two hours (63% of those who spend between 30 minutes to 1 hour and 64% of those who spend between 1 to 2 hours), check social media 6 to 10 times per day (67%), and use Facebook (63%).

Half say Twitter is half true and half fake news

One-third (BTM2: 34%) say Twitter is filled with fake news, with a little over one-fifth (26%) saying it’s mostly fake news and a few (8%) saying it’s all fake news. One-sixth (TOP2: 15%) say it’s not filled with fake news with a tenth (12%) saying it’s mostly true and a few (3%) saying it’s all true. Half of respondents (51%) say Twitter is about half true and half fake news.

Those more likely to say Twitter is filled with fake news include those aged 65 and over (44%), males (36%), those with post-graduate degrees (38%), those living in British Columbia (45%), those who do not use social media (52%), those who do not use social media everyday (38%), and those who use Snapchat (45%) the most.

Those more likely to say Twitter is not filled with fake news include those with some college or university (19%), those living in Atlantic Canada (24%), use social media for 2 to 3 hours (22%), use social media 10 times (16%) and more than 10 times (19%), and mainly use Twitter (27%).

Those more likely to say Twitter is half true and half fake news include those aged 35 to 44 (56%) and 45 to 54 (56%), females (53%), those living in Quebec (55%) and Alberta (55%), those who use social media 10 times (63%), and those who mostly use Twitter (61%) and LinkedIn (60%).





Half say Instagram is half true and half fake news

One-third (BTM 2: 35%) of respondents think Instagram is filled with fake news with a little over one-fifth (26%) saying it’s mostly fake news and one-tenth (9%) saying it’s all fake news. One-sixth of respondents (TOP2: 15%) say Instagram is not filled with fake news, with one-tenth (13%) saying it’s mostly true and a few (2%) saying it’s all true. Half of respondents (50%) think that what they see on Instagram is about half true and half fake news.

Those most likely to say Instagram is filled with fake news include those aged 65 and over (39%), those who completed college or university (37%) and those with post-graduate degrees (38%), those living in British Columbia (41%), those who don’t use social media at all (52%), those who do not use social media every day (37%), and those most likely to use Twitter (37%) and Pinterest (35%).

Those more likely to say Instagram is not filled with fake news include those aged 18-34 (19%), earning less than $20,000 (26%), those with secondary school or less (21%), those living in Atlantic Canada (25%), those who use social media for 2 or more hours (26% of those who use social media for 2 to 3 hours and 25% of those who use social media for more than 3 hours, those who check social media 10 times per day (22%) or more (19%), and those more likely to use Instagram (29%) more than other social media.

Those more likely to say Instagram is about half true and half fake include those aged 35 to 44 (53%) and 45 to 54 (55%), those earning $60,00 to $80,000 (55%) and $80,000 to $100,000 (56%), those who live in Quebec (54%) and Manitoba/Saskatchewan (52%), those who use social media between 30 minutes to an hour (58%) and between 1 to 2 hours (59%), those who check 10 times a day (56%) or more (54%), and those mostly use LinkedIn (60%) or Snapchat (57%).

Non-social media users are more likely to say Snapchat is fake news



About 4-in-10 (BTM2: 43%) say they think Snapchat is fake news. Almost a third (29%) say it is mostly fake news and about a seventh (14%) say it is all fake news.

Those who are most likely to say that Snapchat is fake news are between 45 to 54 (44%), 65 and older (47%), the least wealthy (41%), earning between $40,000 to $60,000 (41%), $60,000 to $80,000 (44%), $80,000 to $100,000 (43%), the most wealthy (42%), the most educated (54%), living in the Prairies (53%) or British Columbia (47%), those who do not use social media at all (58%), and those who most frequently use Pinterest (55%).

About a seventh (TOP2: 15%) say news on Snapchat is mostly true or all true and about 4-in-10 (42%) say the news on Snapchat is about half true and half fake news.

Half are divided on Google when it comes to fake news

Nearly half (46%) say they think Google is about half true and half fake news. Those who are most likely to say that Google is about half true and half fake news are between 18 to 34 (44%), 45 to 54 (50%), 55 to 64 (49%), 65 and older (46%), earning between $40,000 to $60,000 (49%), $60,000 to $80,000 (52%), the most wealthy (47%), those who do not use social media at all (46%), use it for less than thirty minutes per day (47%), more than 30 minutes per day but less than an hour (50%), or use it for 3 hours or more per day (51%), and those who post on social media 10 times per day (55%).

About 4-in-10 (TOP2: 39%) say news on Google is mostly true or all true and about a seventh (15%) say the news on Google is mostly fake news or all fake news.

Divided when it comes to government regulations for social media



Nearly half (BTM2: 45%) say they disagree that the government should regulate social media, with about a fifth (17%) saying they somewhat disagree and almost 3-in-10 (28%) saying they strongly disagree.

About 4-in-10 (TOP2: 43%) say the government should regulate social media and about one-in-10 (12%) say they don’t know.

55% in favour of laws restricting “fake news”

Majority (TOP2: 55%) say they are in favour of laws restricting “fake news” from being published on social media sites or elsewhere, with a fifth (20%) saying they are somewhat in favour and over a third (34%) saying they are strongly in favour.

Those who are most likely to say they are in favour are those aged 35 to 44 (61%), 45 to 54 (57%), 55 to 64 (56%), those earning between $60,000 to $80,000 (63%), $80,000 to $100,000 (59%), the most wealthy (57%), those who have completed college or university (60%), the most educated (61%), living in Quebec (63%) or British Columbia (57%), those who use social media for less than thirty minutes per day (57%), more than thirty minutes but less than an hour (53%), between one hour and two hours (59%), and more than two hours but less than three hours (57%), post on social media once per day (54%), 5 times per day (58%), and most frequently use Facebook or Twitter (59%), Pinterest (57%), or LinkedIn (63%).

About a third (BTM2: 34%) say they are opposed to laws restricting “fake news” from being published on social media sites and one-in-10 (11%) saying they don’t know.

Influencers are not-so influential when it comes to purchasing decisions



Majority (87%) of social media influencers or celebrity endorsements do not play a big part in influencing their purchasing decisions. Those who are most likely to say this are those aged 35 to 44 (88%), 45 to 54 (88%), 55 to 64 (90%), or 65 and older (90%), those earning between $20,000 to $40,000 (87%), $40,000 to $60,000 (90%) $60,000 to $80,000 (86%), $80,000 to $100,000 (92%), or the most wealthy (92%), those who do not use social media at all (89%), use social media for less than thirty minutes per day (90%), more than thirty minutes but less than an hour (89%), or between one hour and two hours (90%) per day, do not post on social media everyday (85%), post on social media once per day 88%), 5 times per day (91%) or 10 times per day (91%), and most frequently use Facebook (90%), Pinterest (88%), LinkedIn (91%), or something else (85%).

About 1-in-10 (13%) say social media influencers or celebrity endorsements play a big part in influencing their purchasing decisions.

A third check social media before getting out of bed

Three-in-ten (30%) say they check social media before getting out of bed, while almost three-quarters (75%) say they don't.

A third check social media before bed

A third (33%) say they check social media before going to bed, while about two-thirds (67%) say they do not.

A third says social media has affected a relationship

A third (32%) say social media has affected their relationship with a friend, family member, or a romantic interest, while two-thirds (68%) say it hasn't.

“Age is a predominant predictor of social media usage,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “Younger respondents are more likely to use Instagram, more likely to say they’ve seen fake news, and more likely to use social media frequently. There is a healthy skepticism about social media, and more than half of Canadians say they would support laws restricting fake news.”