How are you reading this? News consumption in the digital age
We just don’t talk anymore. How friends share the news (Image- shutterstock.com).
You may be reading this on your smartphone. Or perhaps you’ve pulled up our website on your tablet? Maybe you were alerted by a tweet, or a Facebook post. If so, you are not alone. A new report from the Reuters Institute has found a growing appetite for online news, now the medium of choice for the UK public.
The Reuters Institute Digital Report 2012, undertaken by Oxford University, reveals that online news has overtaken print and TV news as the most frequently used medium in the UK, amongst those surveyed.
Smartphones are being used more frequently to access news stories, according to the survey. More than one in ten of those surveyed said their smartphones are now the main way they access online news.
The figure is even higher for 25-34 year olds, with 27% saying they turn to their phone for their news updates. The trend peters out with age, however. Those in the over 55 category showed almost no interest in getting their news over the phone.
And, contrary to how it may seem, people are not just using their tablets to read e-book sensation Fifty Shades of Grey. News is more their thing. Of those owning tablet devices, 58% of those surveyed said they used the device to access news every week in the UK.
Not that we should get too excited about our high-brow ways. Out of the five countries surveys it was found that in the UK news about politics is perceived to be less important – and celebrity news more important.
Indeed, we are lagging behind our European neighbours when it comes to news intake. In Germany 90% of those surveyed said they accessed the news at least once a day. By comparison, just 75% of those in the UK said the same.
But at least when we do access the news we are happy to share. A fifth of those in the UK sample said they shared news stories each week via email or social networks.
Check out the Bureau’s Facebook page and Twitter feed for easy ways to read and share our stories.
However, while the UK will gladly share news stories we remain resistant to paying for online news. Just 4% of those in the UK said they were willing to pay.
The most generous of the five nations surveyed was Denmark, where 12% said they would pay for online news.
The Reuters report is based on a survey conducted by YouGov across five countries- UK, US, Germany, Denmark and France- in April 2012.
The survey was done online and consequently will naturally under-represent older people’s consumption habits, namely use of newspapers and TV.
Perhaps most shockingly though, more 10% of those in all the countries said they were not interested in the news at all. Back to Fifty Shades of Grey for them then.
