Mobile devices encourage greater reading of news publications

New York: “Spread of Mobile technology is adding to news media consumption in United States of America.”

According to Pew research centre’s report regarding state of the news media 2012, there is a mounting body of evidence finds that the spread of mobile technology is adding to news consumption in the United States. Its effects, however, are mixed. While it enhances the appeal of traditional news brands, and even boosts the reading of long-form journalism, it also shows that technology companies are strengthening their control.

The reports find that rather than replacing media consumption on digital devices, people who go mobile are getting news on all their devices.

They also appear to be getting it more often, and reading for longer periods of time.

For example, 34% of desktop/laptop news consumers now also get news on a smartphone. About a quarter, 27%, of smartphone news consumers also get news on a tablet.

These digital news omnivores are also a large percentage of the smart phone/tablet population. And most of those individuals (78%) still get news on the desktop or laptop as well.

A PEJ survey of more than 3,000 adults discovered that the reputation, or brand, of a news organisation is the most important factor in determining where consumers go for news, and that is even truer on mobile devices than on laptops or desktops.

Indeed, despite the explosion in social media use through the likes of Facebook and Twitter, recommendations from friends are not yet a major factor in steering news consumption.