Online news in rude health

Pew Research Center have produced a survey looking at the online habits of teens and young adults, in particular their use of social media and news consumption online. While the survey seems to suggest blogging has plateaued out to become a more niche pursuit, social networking and online news show no signs of waning.

Sixty two percent of teenagers online are currently getting their news-fix over the Internet, a stat that peaks at 77% during major news events. This compares favorably with the 72% of online adults who access the Web for news or political information.

While blogging (15% of youngsters) and Tweeting (8% of teens) don’t look to be capturing the imagination of the young, social networking certainly has. A whopping 73% of wired American teens now use social networking sites (up from 55% three years ago), similarly 72% of online young adults also such sites, both being significantly higher than the 40% of adults who do so.

Overall the survey produces an interesting snapshot of web usage among the young, and it’ll be interesting to see how these trends continue to shift in the future especially as sites like Facebook continue to integrate online news.

Leave a Comment February 5, 2010