Do you get your breaking news from social media? You might be surprised to find out you're in the minority.
A couple of new studies throw cold water on the notion that we can chuck traditional sources out the window and follow social media for all the latest news. Gallup found that most of us still want to get our news from TV. And a study in the UK showed that Twitter still lags behind newswires for breaking news in most cases.
Not that things are particularly rosy for news media. Local news viewership continued to decline last year, and while digital subscriptions have helped prop up newspaper circulation rates, the overall outlook is still grim.
Why? Partly because most of us are checking news in quick bites all day long from different sites on our computers, smartphones and tablets. Google recently killed off its beloved news aggregator Reader, and people are still mourning its loss as the industry scrambles to fill the void for people who want streamlined access to as many media sources as possible.
In the UK study, one area Twitter aced out the big guys was disaster reporting, a phenomenon we all witnessed during and after Hurricane Sandy last year. Not only were first-hand reports able to spread quickly, but officials took to social media to broadcast important information. And that's probably key to how social media can integrate with news in the future. We know what happens when false info is spread. But for bringing local perspectives and insights to the world and connecting people during major events, it can't be beat.
Check out the latest episode of The Content Brief from Freshwire below for more.