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.
The Respondents "Generally Get" News Source |
Generally get
news from: | % of Respondents |
Mostly web/ Internet | 49% |
Mostly TV | 32% |
Mostly newspaper | 9% |
Mostly radio | 9% |
Mostly from friends/family | 1% |
Mostly Magazines | 0% |
Source: Gather, Inc., July
2010 |
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.
Types Of Stories Most Likely To Comment
On |
Type of News | % of Respondents |
Celebrity | 13% |
Political | 28% |
Sports | 5% |
Business/ Financial | 5% |
Local | 22% |
National/ International | 27% |
Source: Gather, Inc., July 2010 |
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
Behavior When Using Search Engines To Find News (% of Respondents) |
Next Step | % of Respondents |
I only click through to articles from news sources I recognize | 22% |
I click on multiple results to get a variety of perspectives | 36% |
I dig into the results looking for headlines that are most relevant | 26% |
I click on the first one or two search results | 16% |
Source: Gather, Inc., July 2010 |
Please visit Gather here to learn
more about this study.