Digital News Participation is Dependent on Media Device

by Bradley Keith 31 and Dion Wiley 66

Email and Social Media Encourage Digital Participation

The United States is currently ranked 4th on the global list of overall news participation. 35% of these users use email and social media in order to share these news stories. Through the use of various applications and news websites, we are now able to share more personalized information than ever before. Applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube allow us to share news that we consider interesting or relevant to our lives with all the people we are connected to on those particular social media sites. On the other hand, email is a more personal way of sharing news by selecting each person you want to share the news with individually. These various platforms have made digital participation in sharing news both easier and more prevalent.

Facebook is Still the Most Used and Important Social Media Website

Contrary to popular opinion, Facebook is not becoming out-of-date or less important thanks to the rise in other social media websites such as Twitter or Instagram. As shown in the image above, Facebook continues to be the top social media site to share news and interact with other people regarding that news. Even though Twitter has become increasingly more popular with their quick way of sharing information with under 140 characters, continued dialogue between people about news stories seems to be easier on Facebook with no character limitations. The increased prevalence of different social media sites allows people to share information in many different ways. However, this image shows that people's first choice to share that information is still Facebook.

Most People Use Mobile Devices to Access these Sites to Digitally Participate

17% of people use their mobile devices in order to interact with the news whether it is through social media, email, etc. This shows that in an increasingly busy and instant digital world, most people rely on their phone in order to view and interact with the news. This should not be a surprise considering the rise of smartphones and how important they have become in people's everyday lives. If someone wants to view something quickly, such as the news, they can look it up on either an app or Internet on their smartphone as opposed to pulling out their laptop. In a growing digital and mobile world, it makes sense that most people would access this information through their phones (mobile devices).

Specifically, People are Using Apple Products the Most to Access this Information

When it comes to devices being used to access news and digitally participate, Apple dominates the market. Smartphone users are about the same when it comes to Apple versus it's competitors. However, Apple owns the tablet market commanding most of the news and digital participation outflow. This signifies that the iPad is the most popular form of digital participation in the tablet market which comes in second to the mobile phone market with regards to digital participation. Regardless, Apple is a key player due to the amount of people using their devices to digitally participate with the news today.