There are many choices when it comes to getting news. You can flick through your tablet computer. Turn on your television. Adjust the dial of your radio. Click an app on your smartphone. You can still even leaf through a good ole’ fashioned newspaper. The options are many, but traditional news sources are increasingly being set aside for newer and more advanced platforms.
In the last year, the use of mobile devices to get news has made a huge jump. According to the Pew Research Center’s State of the Media Report for 2011, 47 percent of Americans are using mobile devices to read news or weather, while only 7 percent of people owned a tablet at the beginning of the year. These numbers are expected to increase as the popularity of the tablet computer rises.
Meanwhile, the number of people picking up a print edition of the paper decreases each year among every age bracket. According to Pew, 57 percent of people age 65 and older reached for a newspaper in 2006. In 2010, only 46 percent of people in that age bracket were reading paper in print.
One source of news is through social media channels. On Aug. 23, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake rocked through much of the East Coast, from North Carolina to Canada. Before checking news sites, people grabbed their smartphones and tweeted about the quake, while Facebook was abuzz with the news. Instead of turning to a local paper’s website or TV news station, people looked towards their social media feeds for information.
Matthew Jones, a professional comedy magician, uses social media for his primary news source. “I use an RSS app on my iPhone,” Jones said in an email interview. “I’m not a fan of following one specific news source, but RSS lets me skim multiple news sources quickly and pick out stories I’m interested in. I also watch my Facebook news feed closely and read stories my friends recommend and post.”
Carrie Schmeck, a freelance writer, also uses social media outlets for news. “Every morning, I look at Facebook for social news updates, Google reader where I browse the blogs I’m following and then I check the local news site.” Schmeck said in an email interview. “I like how I can pick and choose my delivery on the Internet and get the news the way I want it from sources I trust.”
People grabbing their news from social media sites doesn’t necessarily fit into one cookie cutter demographic. inVocus spoke with several people from ages 25 to 50, and all of them listed social media sites as their primary source for news. While many are still grabbing that newspaper or turning on their television, social media sources are taking the lead.
Traditional news does still have a place. But it is increasingly being pushed to the back burner by non-traditional news sources, which are becoming more popular by the day.
–Kimberly Cooper
