Traditional media is no longer the go-to news source according to a new study, with social platforms taking the lead.
Research undertaken by Pew Research Center in the US confirmed social media is now the most common port of call for consuming news. The ‘News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016’ study surveyed 4600 people and confirmed that 62 per cent of Americans access news via social media.
Leading the way is Facebook as the number one social media news source, with 66 per cent of its US audience accessing news via the platform. Seventy per cent of the survey also admitted Reddit was their key source for news – but its user base is much smaller than Facebook’s.
The Metropolitan Museum chief digital officer Sree Sreenivasan comments of the results to Mashable: “I’m not surprised that people are [getting] their information from the platforms they’re on and what they’re exposed to. He believes society will only become more dependant on social media as a news source: “We’ll see this come more into focus in the years ahead as these platforms become more dominant in our lives.”
But this shouldn’t scare traditional media – the Pew Study also notes there is still a need for traditional outlets. Thirty-nine per cent of Facebook users continue to watch local news on TV, 15 per cent read newspapers, and 8 per cent of Twitter users continue to consume print.
