• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, July 28, 2010

According to a new study by Gather, Inc., individuals are increasingly turning to the Internet to get, share, and discuss the news. The report reveals trends in how people are receiving and interacting with the news, starting millions of conversations across America. Nearly half of adults surveyed consider the Internet their primary resource for news. 

Self proclaimed "news junkies" are more likely to rely on traditional media sources. 53% still cite the newspaper as their main source of news. Younger people get their news on demand. 65% of respondents younger than 25 years old described their news habits as interest-based, only reading about breaking news stories or stories of interest. 70% of respondents in this age group turn to the Internet to learn more about a breaking news story and share information about a news story.

The majority of adults surveyed admitted to sharing news online, through either Twitter, Facebook, Social Networks such as MySpace, Email or Bookmarking sites like Digg. 90% of respondents younger than 25 years old use Twitter or Facebook to share news, double the amount of respondents 40+

 78% of all people surveyed share news stories through social networking sites:

• 54% of adults under the age of 45 share news primarily through Facebook
•  68% of adults 45 and older share news primarily through email
• 82% of respondents have commented on a news story online, and are comfortable commenting on national news sites, local news sites, or user generated content sites.

More than one third of survey respondents use search engines to find multiple perspectives on a news story.

• 72% are satisfied with the resulting news story they land on when clicking through from a search engine
• Women are 2x more likely to click on just the first 1 or 2 search results than men

Please visit Gather here to learn more about this study.