A March 2015 study by the Media Insight Project shows that US Millennials who visit social media to check up on their friends end up consuming a significant amount of news they come across. Facebook is the leading platform where Millennials bump into news. This passive news consumption is opening them up to a diverse range of opinions.
US Millennials more likely to keep up with news than their friends
Reading or watching news when online isn’t a novelty activity among US Millennials. 69% of US Millennials read or watch news when online at least once a day – slightly more than those who keep up with friends (67%), stream music, TV, or movies (66%), and pursue their interests & hobbies (57%) daily.
85% of Millennials said it was important to them personally to keep up with news with 38% agreeing that it is very or extremely important. For most Millennials news is important because they see their friends sharing it online. As expressed by a 25 year old participant from Chicago: “Usually, it is easy to find breaking news on my [Facebook] news feed.” The news is contextualized as important because it is important to their peers.
For some consuming news online is about seeing themselves as part of a community of change agents who are fighting for meaningful social change around the world. Another 23 year olds participant from Chicago chimed in: “I have so much faith in my generation to change the course of this country, and I love seeing that play out in the news, whether it be through health care changes, gay marriage acceptance, sexual education and access to information, and race issues”.
Millennials follow news to fulfill civic, social and personal needs
74% of US Millennials report following the news for at least one civic reason. 67% cite at least one social reasons, and 63% cite at least one personal or practical reason.
Traditionally news has helped people become involved citizens by keeping them informed about contemporary issues. Millennials still perceive news to fulfill that role. 57% of US Millennials say they consume news online to stay informed and be a better citizen. 47% consumed news so that the could decide where they stand on issues and 35% used it to take action around issues they care about.
News has also long been a social catalyst giving young people something common to talk about when they meet each other. 53% of US Millennials say they follow news because it gives them something talk to their friends, family and colleagues about. It is also common for young people from the same community to reinforce their membership by talking about local events and happenings. 45% of Millennials say following news makes them feel connected to their community.
Millennials also consume news for personal enjoyment. 53% of US Millennials follow news because they find it enjoyable or entertaining. Most of this consumption happens during leisure times, while commuting or taking a break from work. Other than personal reasons, US Millennials derive functional utility from news. 39% say that it helps them find places to go and things to do. 26% follow news that helps them stay healthy and a further 24% say it helps them save or manage their money.
Millennials bump into news as they browse social media
Online news consumption is mostly passive in nature i.e. people tend to discover news while browsing for updates from friends or some other activity. Overall 60% of US Millennials said they bump into news while the remaining 40% said they actively sought out news and information.
Younger Millennials below the age of 25 were more likely to bump into news than older millennials over the age of 30. 66% of younger Millennials 25 and under say the news find them. For those age 30-34, by contrast, active seeking versus passive finding is more evenly split (49% active vs. 50% passive).
Facebook is the top destination to get daily news
57% of US Millennials get their news from Facebook everyday – almost twice as many as those who say they turn to YouTube (29%) or Instagram (26%). Surprisingly only 13% say they get their daily news from Twitter.
Facebook is ideal for news consumption because it facilitates news discovery encouraging passive news consumption. Millennials largely turn to Facebook to check up on friends or find some entertaining content. 69% say they visit Facebook to see what their friends are talking about and what’s happening in their lives while 58% turn to Facebook when they want to consume content that is entertaining such as funny lists, articles, or videos.
However, once on the social network they end up engaging with news content. 70% of US Millennials say they read or watch news stories posted by their peers on Facebook while 60% ‘like’ a news story they come across. They also tend to contribute articles to the newsfeed. 42% say they post or share a story they read on other websites. More than a third (34%) engage in conversation around news content by posting comments.
Social Media offers a diverse range of opinions to readers
Consuming news online is also opening up young millennial minds to different and even opposing point of views. 70% of Millennials say that their social media feeds are composed of a relatively even mix of similar and different opinions to their own. 16% say interestingly, that the opinions and viewpoints they see are mostly different than their own. Only 12% say the opinions they see in social media are mostly similar to their own.
Millennials who consume news passively are more likely to widen the perspectives. 73% of Millennials who bump into news and information say the opinions in their feeds are an even mix of viewpoints, compared with 65% of active news seekers.
US Millennials who come across different point of views are also likely to engage with the content and further investigate the matter. Among Millennials who come across either a mix or mostly dissimilar opinions to their own in their social media feeds, 73% further investigate these opinions with 26% saying they do so always or often.
According to a 23 year old participant, “[Social media] creates such good dialogue because there are so many places you can get ideas. You don’t know where your friend or your parent is getting their news from. So you can openly have a dialogue, and you have just totally different views on the same event. I think, overall, it’s so cool that it opens up that dialogue.”
Reference
The survey reached 1,046 adults nationwide between the ages of 18 and 34. Study recruitment was completed through a national probability telephone sample, while the main portion of the questionnaire was administered online. The margin of error was +/- 3.8 percentage points. More details can be found by following the above-referenced link to the study.
1. How Millennials Get News:Inside the Habits of America’s First Digital Generation, March 2015, The Media Insight Project