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Two out of three people used Facebook to read yesterday's news. That's just one of the statistics revealed in the "News Consumption in 2013" infographic shown below, which was released by Uberflip this week.As you might expect, younger people are more likely to read news via social media sites, but overall, television is still the most popular source of news content.However, as the chart in the infographic shows, all sources other than digital and mobile news (i.e., television, newspaper, and radio) are declining in popularity. In 2011, digital and mobile news took over as the second most popular way to get news content, and it continues to rise while the rest show no signs of recouping lost audiences.

Digital, Mobile, and Multiple Screen Growth

Digital and mobile news consumption continues to grow along with smartphone and tablet ownership. One out of two Americans own a smartphone or tablet device and nearly two out of three smartphone and tablet owners use their devices to get news. However, 50% of people who use their tablet devices to read news also use computers and print sources to get news.This data means that news consumption is part of the multi-screen lifestyle that more and more Americans are adopting each day. In December 2012, I shared an infographic from Morrison Foerster here on the Newstex blog filled with statistics that depicted how content consumption would change in 2013. One of the key points revealed through the data was that the increase in multiple screen usage would change content consumption and content marketing. At that time, research found that 65% of tablet owners surf the web while watching television. It's safe to assume that the percentage is higher today and will be even higher a year from now.

Facebook and Social Media Are Hot Spots for News Consumption

Take a look at the Uberflip infographic and notice how dominant Facebook is in its position as the place where most people find news online. More than four times as many people used Facebook to read news yesterday (67%) than the next most popular online source, Twitter (16%).These numbers are higher than the results revealed in The Pew Research Center’s Trends in News Consumption: 1991-2012 report that was released in October 2012. In that study, 19% Americans who responded to a research survey reported that they saw news or news headlines on social networking sites like Facebook and Google+ yesterday. That number was more than double the number Pew Research identified two years earlier.The Pew Research study also revealed that the growth rate was even higher among people who identified themselves as regularly getting news or news headlines on social sites. Among that audience, the growth rate nearly tripled from 7% to 20% during the same time period.Where did you get your news yesterday?

news consumption in 2013 infographic

Image: Sean MacEntee

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