Parks and recreation use a diverse array of platforms to ensure they reach all members of the community. More than half of U.S. adults stayed informed about local events primarily through social media and word of mouth. Comprehensive advertising efforts by parks and rec ensures that each community receives information about fun local events and activities for the entire family. Parents are more likely to find out about local events from social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, than non-parents. U.S. adults are least likely to find out about events from local government websites.

Key Findings:

• U.S. adults find out about local events happening in their community the most from social media (66%) and by word of mouth (59%).
• Facebook is the top social media platform (53%) they hear about events from, followed by Instagram (27%) and then other social media platforms (21%).
• While more than half of Millennials and Gen Z rely on social media as their top source for finding out about local events happening in their community, word of mouth is the top source for Gen X (69%) and Boomers (63%). 
• Parents are more likely to find out about local events from social media than non-parents (80% vs. 58%).
• Over two in five (41%) U.S. adults in the South find out about local events from televised announcements on local news/cable access channels, meanwhile, those in the Northeast are the more likely to look to their local government website to find events compared to other regions (29% vs. 18% West, 18% Midwest, 17% South).