The internet and mobile technologies are at the center of the story of how people’s relationship to news is changing.
Earlier in March, the
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Project for Excellence in Journalism released a survey about the news consumer and found that
the overwhelming majority of Americans (92%) use multiple platforms to get their daily news.
The internet is now the third most-popular news platform, behind local and national television news and ahead of national print newspapers, local print newspapers and radio. Six in ten (59%) get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day. The study showed that In today’s new multi-platform media environment, news is becoming portable, personalized, and participatory:
•
Portable: 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones.
•
Personalized: 28% of internet users have customized their home page to include news from sources and on topics that particularly interest them.
•
Participatory: 37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
See the full survey report
HERE.
In the new study below, the Pew Research Center's newest survey on this topic focuses on local news going mobile, and the demographics of who uses mobile apps for this local news, etc.
If the Internet has halted local newsgathering in many regions, could smartphones and tablets bring it back? This is the question implied in the data in this report on how Americans use mobile technology to access local information. The study finds that while many Americans use cellphones and tablets to access such information, very few pay to do so.
View online:
Pew Report: Closing the local news "app gap"
Local news is going mobile. Nearly half of all American adults (47%) report that they get at least some local news and information on their cellphone or tablet computer.
The information they seek out on mobile platforms is practical and real time: 42% of mobile device owners report getting weather updates and 37% get material about restaurants or other local businesses on their phones or tablets. Fewer get news about local traffic and transportation, general news alerts or other local topics.
One of the newest forms of on-the-go local news consumption, mobile applications, are just beginning to take hold among mobile device owners. Just 13% of all mobile device owners report having an app that helps them get local information or news, which represents 11% of the total American adult population. Thus, while almost half of adults get local news on mobile devices, just 1 in 10 use apps to do so. Call it the "app gap."
According to the survey, just 10% of adults who use mobile apps to connect to local news and information pay for those apps. This amounts to just 1% of all adults. Overall, 36% of adults report paying for some form of local news, the vast majority paying for local print newspaper subscriptions.
These findings come from a survey of 2,251 conducted in January by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and Project for Excellence in Journalism, in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
At the moment, few people pay for news online. One question in the news industry is whether the willingness to pay for online content would grow if people faced the prospect of their local media not surviving otherwise. Pressed on the value of online access to their local newspaper, 23% of survey respondents say they would pay $5 a month to get full access to local newspaper content online.
When asked if they would pay $10 per month, 18% of adults say yes. Both figures are substantially higher than the percentage of adults (5%) who currently pay for online local news content. Nonetheless, roughly three-quarters say they would not pay anything.
"Many news organizations are looking to mobile platforms, in particular mobile apps, to provide new ways to generate subscriber and advertising revenues in local markets,” said Lee Rainie, Director of The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, in a release. “The survey suggests there is a long way to go before that happens.”
When asked about the value of their local newspaper, the survey finds:
• 28% of Americans say the loss of the local newspaper would have a major impact on their ability to keep up with local information.
• 30% say it would have a minor impact
• 39% say the loss of the newspaper would have no impact.
While on the surface these findings may look bad for news organizations, there is some potentially good news in the data.
The survey found that adults who consume local news on mobile devices are almost twice as likely as other adults to say they would be willing to pay to access their local newspaper online. The percentage willing to pay is even higher among local app users, so there's evidence that this new mobile local news consumer sees value in their local newspaper.
When it comes to local news and information, here is the material people get:
• 42% of those who own cellphones or tablet computers use those devices to check local weather reports;
• 37% use the devices to find local restaurants or other businesses;
• 30% use the devices to get information or news about their local community;
• 24% use the devices to check local sports scores and get updates;
• 22% use the devices to get information about local traffic or public transportation;
• 19% use the
devices to get or use coupons or discounts from local stores;
• 15% use the devices to get news alerts about community sent via text or email;
• 13% have an app on their device that helps them get information about their local community.
The survey was conducted between January 12, 2011, and January 29, 2011, and respondents were contacted on both landline and cell phones. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.
Read the full report at
pewinternet.org.