[News]feed

[NEWSIFEED Whether or not Facebook users are looking for actual news on their newsfeeds, most of them do see news stories on it. Here's how the social network is changing how people "I believe Facebook is a good way to find out news without actually looking for it." - Survey respondent, Pew Research Center get news, and the sSorts of news they end up consuming: 36% of U.S. adults don't use Facebook 64% of U.S. adults use Facebook 30% of U.S. adults consume news on Facebook Of the 30% who do consume news on Facebook: 78% 22% mostly see news when they're on Facebook think of Facebook as a useful for other reasons way to get news More Americans are getting news digitally and from social networks. The Pew Research Center asked U.S. residents in 2010 and 2012 where they regularly got news, and here's what they said: 50% 46% 46% 2010 40% 2012 34% | 33% 30% 20% 20% 15% 10% 12% 13% 12% 9% 5% 7% 3% 2% 3% Online Search Engines Social Mobile Device Email Blogs Podcasts Twitter Networking While only 20% of all Facebook users are aged 18-29, this age group forms 34% of all Facebook news consumers. This group is also less engaged than older users are on other news platforms. "The average adult Facebook news consumer is 39, a full eight years younger than other adults on Facebook and younger than the average U.S. adult." - Pew Research Center About half of those who consume news on Facebook see stories on at least six different topic areas. Here's how often different news categories show up in Facebook news consumers' newsfeeds: Entertainment: 73% People & events in my community: 65% Sports: 57% National government & politics: 55% Crime: 51% Health & medicine: 46% Local government & politics: 44% Local weather & traffic: 42% International news: 39% Science & technology: 37% Business: 31% While Facebook news consumers are more likely to click on news stories about topics they're interested in, the source of the news story ranks quite low among the reasons people follow a link to a news story. Here are the most popular reasons why people click through to the full story: Iwas interested in the topic: 70% The story seemed funny or entertaining: 51% The story was surprising or unexpected: 50% The story was something I'd been following: 45% A friend recommended the story: 37% The story was froma news organization I prefer: 20% The story had a lot of comments or "likes": 13% "As with U.S. adults overall, only a minority of Facebook news consumers say they prefer news that shares their point of view." - Pew Research Center Less than a third of Facebook news consumers said that they preferred news that shared their point of view, slightly higher than the national average of 27% of U.S. adults who said the same. Only 16% of all Facebook users said that “news" was a major reason they logged on to the site. Here are some of the other reasons why people log on. See what family & friends are up to: 68% See photos & videos from family & friends: 62% Chat or message with friends & family: 38% Share photos & videos: 28% Post personal updates: 17% Get news: 16% Play games: 14% Only 10% of all Facebook users said that it bothers them when people post opinions about news stories. In contrast, 52% were bothered when people share information that is too personal. Here are some of Facebook users' pet peeves: When people share too-personal information: 52% When people brag or complain: 47% When people post too many times a day: 37% When people post political statements: 23% When people post news stories: 10% When people post pictures of kids or pets: 7% By Lisa Mahapatra INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES Source: Pew Research Center, "The Role of News on Facebook,""In Changing News Landscape, Even Television is Vulnerable" Attributions: Man by Moh Kamaru from The Noun Project