By: Frances Micklow

Presented by Steven Masiclat

We use news for its social networking opportunities

The use of non-voice data applications has grown significantly over the last year.

We expect wireless connection and we get pissed when we don’t have it. We expect the information from the cloud to rain on us all the time.

The volume of the information grows and the variety of information sources increases. velocity of information speeds up, venues change—times and places to experience media enlarge , vigilance–attention to information and media expands and contracts, vibrant—immersive qualities of media are more compelling—gamming; augmented reality, valence—relevance of information improves as customization/search tools emerge, vivid– social networks are more evident and more important as “coping” structures.

We take for granted that we need to be connected.

Book Suggestion: Chaos Scenario by Bob Garfield

Because the network is pervasive, news is pervasive. Most people use more than one platform for news (4-6). Platforms have converged online: 68 percent of internet news consumers have watched video news stories, 62 percent watched live feeds, 48 percent emailed stories or news videos

33 percent of cell owners get news on handhelds. Types of news: 26 percent weather, 25 percent brows headlines, 18 percent check news apps, 16 percent sports, 13 percent traffic, 12 percent financial info, 11 percent news alerts by email/text

For the audience, news is personalized. 67 percent of all American say they only follow specific subjects, 28 percent of Internet users have customized a news page and 42 percent say customization is an important web function to them.

For the audience, news is a social experience.

We enjoy talking about it, we feel like it is a social or civic obligation to keep up with the news, we rely on the people around us to tell us when there is news we need to know.

People use news as a social currency: People share links to news stories, get news through their SNS use, follow news organizations and journalists on SNS

The behavior is headed towards the cell phone distribution of information.

The mobile phone layers so much more information than before.

Book suggestion: Let Go to Grow

“We are social animals and other people are hell to deal with.”

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