The News According to Social Media
Whilst recently investigating the germ of an idea for a Fuel Insights report, I posed a question on Thumb to gauge what percentage of people felt they became aware of news via social media before they saw it on TV. The results suggested that only 39% of respondents thought they did, although some added that they usually discover news through mainstream media websites instead of either of the above options. So does this mean that when a big story drops, the mad scramble by journalists to be the first to break it on Twitter is actually a big waste of time?
Everyone has accepted that digital media has changed the way that we consume media, and according to GlobalWebIndex’s latest data, digital now takes up more of our time than traditional media on a global scale.
According to recent studies, a quarter of this time spent online is spent on social networks, so is it surprising that only 39% of people claim to discover news stories via social media? Is it a consciousness issue? Do people not consciously realise where their first touch point with a story is? Or is it an issue of trust? Concentration? Filtering of information?
In order for our clients to effectively engage their audiences through social media, we think it’s vitally important to understand exactly how people digest information through these channels. So watch this space, because we’re going to find out more…
In the meantime, if you have any thoughts or opinions on the subject we’d really like to hear from you. Just contact me on Twitter or drop me an email.