As many as 76% of all UK residents now consume their news digitally, a recent study has revealed.
Online is playing a greater part in the way we get our news than ever before. 70% of people say social media has made it easier to access news, with 34% regularly clicking through to news stories via social networking sites.
The study of 7,500 people from across Britain also uncovered a healthy demand for news, with the average person accessing 6 media stories each day, with almost one in ten consuming more than 16 stories a day.
The research also found that people are becoming better trained at filtering out news that matters to them, with friends and social media influencers now just as important for sourcing news as media professionals.
Almost a quarter of people say they have friends or follow people who they regard as authorities for news and almost one in five (19 per cent) say they trust their friends to source news. Some 56 per cent of people say they don’t feel bombarded by media, with more than a third (36 per cent) saying they feel more in control of the news they receive since owning a smartphone or tablet and only 11 per cent saying they feel less in control.
Jack Peat, Head of Digital at 72Point, who conducted the research, said: “Our Media Consumption report demonstrated that the way we consume and interact with media is undergoing a seismic change.
“News is predominantly consumed on mobile devices and discovered socially, which means there is a thirst for more digestible content that can be delivered quickly with maximum impact.”
“If news consumption is changing, then the way we deliver news has to change too.”
An innovative news wire has been launched that caters exclusively for digital editors and influencers, placing an emphasis on rich, visual content and news releases that encourage social sharing.
The Digital Hub is a news wire that supplies news copy, images, audio and video ready to use or bundled into one downloadable file. The wire has been launched as a one-stop-shop for editors on the hourly hunt for news, with a simple, four-click solution to capturing the story and publishing it.
Aimed at online news publications and influential blogs, the stories on offer support lifestyle news with infographics, high res imagery, video and viral games.
“Strong content is vital for digital publishers, but what we have realised is that time constraints on editors sometimes compromise output quality. That is why we are offering a free-to-use service to publications that allows them to grab and use quality news quickly that is tailored to their audience.”
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
