Will Social Media Become the Primary Player in the News Industry?

Social Media has begun to submerge itself into the News Industry

        Traditionally our news sources have been from Television corporations such as CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC, but there has been a trend amongst Americans of all ages towards a new way of receiving news everyday. This new trend is how social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Youtube, and others have not only dipped their toes into the industry, but have even begun to catch the attention of adults of all ages. We're all aware of the reach and influence that social media has on today's society, and how it has been substantially been altering our lives every day. With this being said, it's astonishing to think about the potential power that these companies could one day soon have within this developing industry. 

  

        Today, the primary social platform that adults use is Facebook. Over 66% of adults in America are engaged everyday in Facebook, and according to Pew Research Center nearly 45% of these adults use Facebook for their news sources as of 2017. Combining this with the growing influence of other social platforms such as Twitter, Linked In, Reddit, Youtube, and others, it seems as though this sector of the market has a youthful grasp on controlling the news industry in the near future. This detailed graphic gives you a great sense of how adults have been acquiring news information across the most prominent social platforms. 

        This illustration gives you a sense of how these social platforms have reached U.S. adults, and additionally the proportion of these users that acquire their daily news content from them. This illustration is a good indicator of how much of the market share Facebook has it's grasp on. Yet, these other platforms such as Twitter and Snapchat have recently begun to pick up their own part of the market share in recent years too. Although Facebook may have the most users that find their news on their platform compared to all of the others, Twitter and Snapchat growth rate among active users has substantially risen since 2013. Furthermore, most other sites such as Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook have seen their user growth rates for finding news not change or even decline; such as in Reddit's case. 

        One of these platforms has been struggling to acquire new users outside of ages 12-25 since 2013. And if you guessed Twitter, you hit the nail on the head. Twitter has seen their influence on the news industry substantially rise since 2013, but the company faces another problem that has proved to be much harder to fix than they expected. This problem is how they've been struggling to expand its user base, especially amongst ages older than 25. Twitter's limited user base makes it difficult for the company to make significant revenue from its ad space, considering it's largest consumer range consists of millennials. 

        All of these platforms attract different kinds of demographics and ages all across the board. The two largest sites for retrieving news consist of Facebook and Youtube. Interestingly enough, these are the two platforms that include the most older, white Americans. Additionally, Snapchat and Instagram have the lowest user base for finding news, and these two are the most appealing to the younger crowds. 

        Most importantly, the gap between television and online consumption have significantly dropped in just the past year. The proportion of adults that regularly receive news from online sources in 2016 was 38%, and in 2017 it is now up to 43%. Coupled with the fact that television consumption for news has dropped from 57% to 50% among US adults, it's clear that these social platforms are having a huge effect on the News Industry. The following diagram will also help you illustrate the changing industry.

        With all of this being said, it's important to note how the influence of social platforms overall have been expanding into other industries such as the News. One day most of us may not even watch the news on TV anymore. Whether social media becomes the leader in this industry is yet to be seen, but it's definitely off to an intriguing start.