Majority Of The Online Users Get News From Facebook, Twitter Youtube and Other Social Media Plateforms

Social media has emerged as a leading source for news among online users who access it through their smartphones and a thinktank has warned that the embrace of free news is becoming becoming a challenge for publishers of quality news. More than half of the online users get their news from Facebook and other social media platforms,refusing to pay for news and using ad-blocking which hurts publishers' revenue. Although free news distribution creates an opportunity to reach more readers. However, it becomes more difficult for publishers to get recognized and connect with their audience. Facebook is playing an increasingly significant role in distributing online news. Forty-four percent of the people are using Facebook as their source of news, followed by 19 of the people using You Tube and 10 percent are getting news from Twitter. In developing countries where access to independent and reliable news is limited, there are even more people who rely on social media for news. In Asian and African countries many people are using mobile phones to get their online news and in those regions social media is even more important a source of news. For the first time social media has overtaken television a main source of news for 18 t0 24 years old, with 28 percent of them citing social media as their main source of news compared to 24 percent who say they watch television for news. More than half of the respondents during this survey said they were using smartphones to access news, with highest levels in Sweden (69 percent), Korea (66 percent ), and Switzerland 61 percent. In the Britain and the USA the use of smartphones to access news has overtaken for the first time computers and laptops.