More people now get their news online
It's official. For the first time ever, more people are now getting their news online rather than from newspapers. That's according to landmark research by the Poynter Institute in America, which has found that as of the end of 2010, more people in the US were accessing news via the Internet than from the printed broadsheets or tabloids. What's even more interesting is that more ad dollars went to online outlets than to newspapers too.
Here lies the revolution of the Internet and how it has completely changed our lives as we know it. And the media industry is one of the most heavily affected as the super information highway of the web has transformed how we access everything. How we shop, how we find love, how we communicate...and of course, how we keep abreast of what's happening in the world.
As we all know, first comes technology, then culture adapts accordingly and finally it's the people who determine the changing shape of society. In this case, the majority of people are now choosing to access news and information online.
According to the survey by the Poynter Institute, 34 per cent of respondents said they read news online within the past 24 hours, as opposed to just 31 per cent who favoured newspapers. Of those surveyed, the 18-29 year old age group overwhelmingly claimed that the Internet was their main source of news. In fact, 65 per cent said they accessed their news online. This just shows that the Y Generation simply don't buy as many newspapers as the older generations before them.
So what does this say about our media landscape? We've already seen huge changes take place with newspaper circulations in decline across the globe and thousands of job cuts in the media industry. Where does that leave the future of journalism?
Well, those who saw this coming 10 years ago have been particularly savvy about finding ways in which to adapt and survive. Just like when anything new comes along, businesses will always try to find ways to 'move with the times'. Take The Guardian newspaper, for example. Their website offering is one of the best in the world. They have fantastic blogs and interesting commentary and they're really making best use of the web and all the latest new technology to keep people coming back for more.
But make no mistake, newspapers are in decline and have suffered the most from the growing popularity of the Internet. Looking to the future, tablet devices might be their saving grace. Just look at things like FlipBoard - an iPad App that turns tweets into a digital magazine. Marvellous. And tablets are the perfect platform to digitalise the printed newspaper. So is this the beginning of the end of the printed newspaper? It's certainly been in decline for some time now. How things will change is anyone's guess but the statistics aren't looking great, that's for sure.
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