36% of US news consumers (who have consumed any news in the past month) said they had used social media and blogs as a news source in the week prior to a Reuters Institute survey conducted in April and released in July 2012. This is double the proportion that had consulted social media for news in the UK (18%), Germany (18%), and France (17%), with social media slightly more influential in Denmark (23%).Interestingly, while the websites of traditional news sources attract digital audiences in Europe, they appear to be slightly less popular in the US than other online news sources such as web portals and entertainment sites.
Despite social media’s significance in the US, the sites still trail broadcaster (46%) and newspaper (50%) websites in terms of popularity. This finding mirrors results from a Pew Research Center study released in March, which found that social media was not a primary driver of news recommendations and information for online consumers in the US. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.
The e-Strategy Academy covers all aspects of digital marketing including search optimization & marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, mobile marketing & public relations.