Digital News Landscape

The Facebook IPO was a hot topic on blogs, Twitter and Facebook last week with doubts about the stock’s value exceeding bullishness on the investment.  And the topics of conversation—which ranged from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wedding to co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s citizenship—varied by social media platform.

Lee Rainie will discuss the Project’s latest findings about how people use the internet, smartphones, and social media tools to get news, share news, and create news.

Despite the growing importance of social media, just 9% of digital news consumers say they “very often” follow news recommendations from Facebook or Twitter on any of the three main types of digital devices (computers, smartphones or tablets).

It took several weeks after the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin before the story exploded in the media. A new PEJ report reveals how social and mainstream media platforms focused on different elements of the controversy and how ideology influenced coverage on the cable and radio talk shows.

Perhaps no topic in technology attracted more attention in 2011 than the rise of social media and its potential impact on news. “If searching for news was the most important development of the last decade, sharing news may be among the most important of the next,” we wrote in a May 2011 report analyzing online news behavior called Navigating News Online.

The migration of audiences toward digital news advanced to a new level in 2011 and early 2012, the era of mobile and multidigital devices. More than three-quarters of U.S. adults own laptop or desktop computers, a number that has been stable for some years.1 Now, in addition, 44% of adults own a smartphone, and the number of tablet owners grew by about 50% since the summer of 2011, to 18% of Americans over age 18.

With digital ad revenue projected to overtake all other platforms by 2016, it is the key to the financial future of news. Are news organizations transitioning their legacy advertisers to online platforms? A PEJ report analyzing more than 5,000 ads from 22 news outlets offers answers.

After the furor over its decision to defund Planned Parenthood, the Susan G. Komen foundation reversed course and a key official resigned.

What stories and which people generated the most news coverage in 2011? PEJ's annual Year in the News report offers answers. The Year in News 2011 Interactive allows users to explore the data for themselves.

The internet is the source that people most rely on for material about the local business scene and search engines are particularly valued.