Time and trends are changing rapidly. Apparently more people now get their news online instead of from newspapers. And that half of online news readers are mobile.
The last 2 years marks the first time online advertising outpaced newspaper advertising. The sector grew 13.9% between 2009 and 2010 to reach a $25.8 billion total. And search advertising continues to dominate the online ad spend landscape.
The internet has turned daily news into a social experience and has become a more popular way to get news than the local newspaper or news radio. In fact, the internet is currently the second most popular way to consume news, coming in after local and national TV news broadcasts. A survey indicates that 75 percent of people get their news online, 73 percent watch national news broadcasts and 78 percent hear the news from local TV stations.
The internet has turned the news to a social experience. Survey found that the 75 percent of people who find their news online get it from email and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. And 52 percent send the news on to others by email and social networks. The internet has also democratized the creation of news for many people. The survey also revealed that 37 percent of internet users have participated in the creation of news, commented on it, or helped to distribute it.
Internet news is more regularly updated. While most newspapers only print once a day, the internet provide 24 hours news online and has a wider range of sources. Many newspapers have their own sites, where people can read the newspaper and get more up to date news. Through the internet, people can access a wide range of newspapers, national and international, which is easier and faster to do than buying newspapers.
While the report shows that local news is still the most popular, it also confirms that the newspaper industry is slowly decreasing its productivity. Its slow, out of date, uses way to much energy, and isn't efficient. So much waste goes into a paper that is only tossed out minutes later. As the face of consumption continues to change, the need for the large-scale deployment of renewable energy -- and better efficiency measures - becomes all the more urgent.
Depending on how long it takes you to read the news online, you're likely using a decent amount of electricity while you do. And electricity probably comes from coal-burning power plants, which, of course are among one of the worst environmental offenders in existence. They're leading contributors to climate change thanks to their huge output of carbon dioxide emissions. And that's not to mention the dangerous byproducts, ash waste, and mountaintop removal mining that comes with the package.
On the other hand, if it takes you only 10 minutes to read the news, the amount of energy wasted isn't enough to rival the environmental costs of wasting the paper that goes into a single newspaper. If you spend closer to 30 minutes reading a paper, then the playing field is all but leveled—if you spend even longer, the paper is actually the more environmentally friendly option in a lot of cases. At least until more of our electricity is coming from clean sources.
The bottom line is, as the face of consumption continues to change, the need for the large-scale deployment of renewable energy - and better efficiency measures - becomes all the more urgent.