Over the past century, we have seen news distribution models evolve from print, to radio, to television, to the internet and now, to social media.
The question remains whether or not social media will ever truly replace traditional news distribution methods or whether it will only compliment them.
One of the reasons that receiving news updates from social media is so popular is the fact that when a news article shows up in someone’s Facebook or Twitter feed, the user knows that someone they trust has already deemed the particular article valuable and noteworthy.
See Also: Internet Growth Statistics 2012 [Infographic]
Traditionally, users did not have a choice in regards to the information relayed by news channels or newspapers. Sure you can watch a different news station or read a different newspaper but once you change the channel, you can no longer receive updates from the previous channel.
With social media, you can receive news updates from multiple different news sources all at one time.
Articles and news items that are most valuable will be, theoretically, shared the most – even if there are other less valuable articles on the same topic.
An infographic (posted below) was recently published by Schools.com that provides us with a great deal of statistics related to news distribution via social media.
News Distribution Via Social Media Statistics Infographic Highlights:
- Over 50% of people have received breaking news via social media instead of a traditional news source.
- 46% of people receive their news online at least 3 times a week.
- As of 2012, revenue from online news surpassed that of print news.
- Social media will soon pass newspapers as a distribution method for news.
- Facebook and Twitter are the most popular social media platforms to receive news from.
- Social media is not as trustworthy as traditional news sources.
