How Race Influences Social-Media Sharing

According to the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll, 60 percent of people on social media platforms have used them to share information about a local issue or event. This makes sense given one of the poll’s other findings: People actually spend more time engaging on social media with those live near them (64 percent) than with those who live farther away.

The frequency of sharing is pretty consistent across individuals of different racial backgrounds. However, the topics people discuss differs greatly when the data is broken down by race. White respondents were most likely to have posted about events or entertainment, with 60 percent having done so. Black respondents, on the other hand, were most likely to have shared information about education or schools, at 67 percent. Hispanic respondents were most likely to have shared a post on crime or public safety, with 62 percent posting on this topic. On both the subjects of education or schools and crime or public safety, white respondents were significantly less likely than their non-white counterparts to have shared any information related to the topic.