Where do you get your news? Certainly, newspapers have faded out as a top resource. However, if you answered “from TV news programs,” you’re part of a group that’s quickly becoming a minority. A recent study shows us that young adults now use the Internet as their primary way to stay up-to-date on current events.
According to the post over at Mashable, which covered the Pew Research Center report on the topic, those aged 18 to 29 now use the Web overwhelmingly to check news stories. In fact, about two-thirds of that group stated that the Web was a primary news resource, compared to the 52% who stated that TV programs served a similar function.
In other groups, however, we’re seeing that the Internet is on a significant rise, as the number who cite TV programs as a primary news source across all age groups has dropped from 74% to 66%. Additionally, the 30 to 59 age group is quickly approaching the Internet as their major source for current events; 48% of those in this age category cite the Web as a main news source, with only 63% saying the same of television.
The Pew Research Center report comes from a survey of 1,500 Americans from a variety of backgrounds and locations, and it is broadly recognized as an accurate study of present-day trends. For Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other companies entering the search engine field, the study means nothing but good news. After all, most of these groups already have an organized news search feature, and it’s likely these services and their recent addition of personalized news streams that allowed this growth to happen. These trends also tell us, however, that the war for internet news searchers has only just begun.
