• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 11, 2016

Social media is supplanting search as the go-to source for discovering content, according results of a survey of active online users conducted by Publicis’ Mediavest | Spark unit and BuzzFeed.

The study, which was conducted by Forrester Consulting, surveyed 1,500 18- to 55-year-olds, and found social media is replacing search as the dominant means they use to find media content. A majority of the respondents identified social media as their “most preferred source” for reading, viewing or listening to content about topics they care about.

The report, which did not provide percentages on the findings, said “young Millennials (ages 18-24) are “twice as likely to get news from social media than 35- to 55-year-olds.

“The typical young Millennial follows an average of 121 publishers across social media networks,” reads the report, noting that is, “nearly three times as many as 35- to 55-year-olds follow. Fifty-seven percent will follow their favorite publishers across platforms.”

Conversely, the study found that three out of four Millennials will “unfollow” publishers if they don’t like their social content.

In terms of devices, the study found Millennials spend 45% more time consuming news on their smartphones compared with 35- to 55-year-olds and are 15% more likely to value news delivered in a format that optimized for their mobile devices.