By WILLIAM BOLOGNA
There was once a time when getting news was not as easy and direct as it now is. Prior, the consumer had to go to the news. But now, the news comes right to the consumer. With the new social media news boom, much of our news is attained when it isn’t even being looked for – while you scroll down the your social media feeds. A majority of people now get their news from social media and millennials are helping to drive that trend, studies show.
According to a PEW study, a whopping 62 percent of adults get their news from social media, and more than a third of all social media usage coming from people aged 18-29.
“I turn to social media for something to look at while I’m bored” said Tara Bourhis, 20, Mahwah. “I don’t go there looking for news, but I often end up finding it there anyways.” Tara said that “the great thing about social media is that you get to see the both the news and the reactions to the news right below it in the comments. You’ll see responses for and against both sides, and even responses making jokes from the whole situation, it’s entertainment like no other.”
Millennials have sparked the revolution of the “Digital Age” as the first generation to grow up with modern technology such as the internet and smart phones, hence why usage of these tools comes as second hand to the millennials.
Social Media Becomes our Biggest News Platform
This “on-demand” news in the Digital Age is creating a revolution within the news world. In today’s technological age, every news source has its own app, from traditional news, to sports, celebrity news, and even social media.
Social media has quietly become the largest way by which consumers all get news that is interactive with public’s reaction to the stories through the comments. Since every news outlet of all varieties also has a page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to name a few platforms, social media has become a prominent method of distributing and retrieving news, all tailored to the individuals preferences based on which news sources they choose to follow.
According to a study from the PEW Research Center, Reddit tops the list with 70 percent of users using Reddit to get their news. Facebook was close behind with 66 percent of users going there for news, and Twitter ranked just below at 59 percent.
The cultivation of news via social media has become so large that studies suggest it could have played a role in influencing the past election. Eighty percent of millennials use Facebook to find news, according to Journalists Resource. A University of Hawaii study published to the same source revealed that millennials tend to “stumble upon” political news rather than seek it, and that political opinion can be influenced by interactions on social media.
News has come a far was since the days of the traditional newspaper and televised news. News has become something that surrounds us in our digital world as we consume it. Whether we realize it or not, it even plays a role in how we form our opinions, going to show how the millennial technology boom can change the world as we know it.
BUYER BEWARE:
The outbreak of news via social media has also served as an engine to driving the spread of “fake news”.
Check it out on Storify.
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