• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, June 18, 2007

In addition to news aggregators like Google and Yahoo, newspapers need to watch out for online competition from a less obvious source--social networks. That's according to a global study of youth media behavior commissioned by the World Association of Newspapers and performed by research firm D-Code.

The study, titled "Youth Media DNA," found that "the importance of the social network as a disseminator of news and information is on the rise." The survey elaborated: "Many participants in this phase listed 'discussion with friends' as a top source for news and information, sometimes ranking higher than TV or newspapers."

In this context, the study said, the best strategy for newspapers may be inserting themselves into the social networks, where their content will appear alongside--and perhaps become absorbed into--the online discussion and debate. The opportunities are there. Indeed, in mid-April, MySpace launched a news aggregator that draws on content from newspapers as well as other sources, and allows users to vote for the best stories.

But this just brings up another problematic finding for newspapers from the survey: often, young people "do not realize they are reading online versions of newspapers." The culprits, according to WAN, are the very aggregators that can get newspaper content in front of young people to begin with. Newspapers are still struggling with this conundrum, seeking ways to brand content so it can be both recognized by the reader and monetized by the newspaper--but there's no clear solution in sight.