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As technology continues to evolve and social media gains more and more popularity, the above headline should come as no surprise to many. The trend of today is to turn to online social media sources for news and information in comparison to the traditional way of reading the daily edition of the newspaper according to a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center. As surprising as this may seem to those us of who have been around a while, it’s true! To help clients, prospects and others understand the impact of the study, FlashPoint Marketing has provided a summary below.

Study Highlights:

According to the study, it was revealed that 20 percent of American adults say they gather their daily news from social media platforms in comparison to 16 percent who read the paper. This statistic places social media as the fourth most popular source of news while television still claims the number one position by a fairly, large lead despite a steady decline over the past three years.

The above proves that social media sites are gaining popularity as reliable arenas for news. Oddly enough, radio is also on the rise. The below diagram outlines the current news source trend:

The study went further to suggest that when combining news websites and social media sites together as one category of comparison the margin of websites to TV becomes much smaller and only reflects a six percent difference vs. a 16 percent difference if comparing TV to news websites and a 29 percent difference if comparing TV to social media sites.

Pew’s study provided a breakdown with results by age groups. It was not surprising that older adults are likely to gather news information from television while younger generations seek news from online sources. Study results were as follows:

Percent of US adults who regularly get news from television:

• 81 percent of people ages 65+
• 65 percent of people ages 50-64
• 36 percent of people ages 30-49
• 16 percent of peoples ages 18-29

When the data is flipped when it comes to social media.

Percent of US adults who regularly get news from social media:

• 8 percent of people ages 65+
• 14 percent of people ages 50-64
• 22 percent of people ages 30-49
• 36 percent of peoples ages 18-29

Middle-aged adults dominate when it comes to new websites.

Percent of US adults who regularly get news from websites:

• 28 percent of people ages 65+
• 28 percent of people ages 50-64
• 42 percent of people ages 30-49
• 27 percent of peoples ages 18-29

One other noteworthy tidbit about Pew’s data is older demographics prefer to get their news from a single source in comparison to young people and middle-aged adults.

The Takeaway

While traditional forms such as TV and newspapers are still of value for news and information, the growth of websites and social media platforms demands recognition. Therefore, it’s important to ensure your firm has a healthy social media presence online and regularly posts industry news and information to share with your viewers.