June 5, 2015: Remember the days when television, radio and the newspaper were the main sources of news? Since the mainstreaming of the Internet in the early 2000’s, the way we consume news has drastically changed. With mobile devices and internet service available virtually everywhere, people have the news right at their fingertips, and social media has become a primary portal for receiving and sharing information. What began as a place to connect with friends has become a place to find out what’s going on in the world.
Quite frankly, what’s on the 5 p.m. news becomes old due to the instantaneous sharing of information via Facebook and Twitter. Facebook recently introduced “Instant Articles,” a new direct relationship between Facebook and big-name publishers such as Buzzfeed and the New York Times. New apps like Periscope and Meerkat have also changed the way “real-time” news is delivered to users. While we cannot tell the future for traditional outlets, it seems as though social news is here to stay. The infographic below is a small snapshot showing the impact of social media on news consumption in the United States.
