As people are exposed to more information from more sources than ever before, how they define and feel about “news” has become less clear-cut. Most people agree that information must be factual, up to date and important to society to be considered news.
In an open-ended question, we asked U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from news influencers to name the first one who comes to mind for them.
Lee Rainie, director of Internet, Science and Technology research at the Pew Research Center, discussed the Center’s latest findings on digital divides based a survey conducted from Sept. 29 to Nov. 6, 2016. The presentation was to the board of Feeding America. Rainie looked at differences tied to internet access, home broadband ownership, and smartphone ownership by several demographic measures, including household income, educational attainment, race and ethnicity, age, and community type. He also discussed the Center’s research related to “digital readiness gaps” among technology users.
About two-in-three U.S. adults say fake news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues. And nearly a quarter say they have ever shared completely made-up news.
When asked whether one prefers to read, watch or listen to their news, younger adults are far more likely than older adults to opt for text – and most of that reading is occurring on the web.
Digital news continues to evolve, pushed by a variety of recent innovations. Here are 10 key findings that show how these shifts are reshaping Americans’ news habits.
More than half of U.S. smartphone users say they get push notifications on their phones’ screens, but only about half of those who ever get these alerts click through to the full story.
A quarter of U.S. adults (24%) turn to social media posts from either the Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump campaigns as a way of keeping up with the election, while 10% turn to their websites and 9% turn to emails.
Digital innovation has had a major impact on the public’s news habits. How have these changes shaped Americans’ appetite for and attitudes toward the news?
The past year brought pressures to America’s newspaper newsrooms not seen since the Great Recession. From broadcast to print to digital and more, this year’s annual report takes stock of the state of the news media.
A majority of Americans get news on social media, including 18% who do so often. News plays a varying role across the nine social networking sites studied.
Facebook sends by far the most mobile readers to news sites of any social media site, while Twitter mobile users spend more engaged time with news content.