Facebook and Twitter make people turn to internet for news content

As a sign of the dramatically changing times, more people are now turning directly to the internet for news, rather than to printed newspapers or magazines, and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are playing  a major role in driving traffic to websites with news content.  According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project survey, fully 61 percent of Americans indicated that they get some of their news online. The majority of Americans who do turn to the internet for news now also use social networking sites to help sift through the wealth of content available online. The survey found that 75 percent of Americans access news content through Facebook posts, Twitter links, or by e-mail. Additionally, more than a third of all internet users (37 percent) share newsworthy content using these same social networking sites, or by e-mailing links.

The Pew survey also found that the internet and social networking sites have dramatically altered the way in which we read the news. Rather than being loyal to a single source and dedicating a “discrete” moment of the day to reading about current events—such as over a morning coffee—we now access news throughout the day, particularly with the growing popularity of mobile devices, such as Blackberries and iPhones. We are also more proactive when it comes to passing news stories on to others. The vast majority of respondents (65%) indicated that rather than having a single favourite online news source, they pick and choose their content from several sites.