As illustrated in the graph above, newspaper ad sales (a.k.a. revenue) have dropped at an accelerating rate since April, 2006. The Newspaper Association of America reported that print ad sales fell by a historic 29.7% to $5.9 billion in the first period of 2009.
What will the future of newspapers look like in 2010? With the wide use of the internet, we can find news we are most interested in, and even
print our own Sunday coupons.
While on Social networking sites like
Facebook you probably read updates shared by friends in the same town or with the same interests, as well straight from news sources such as Associated Press, Wall Street Journal or your hometown news channel. Many are now getting news immediately and at demand with no charge.
Facebook also allows users to share news they are reading with friends, and start a discussion. Users are increasingly heading to
Facebook to get their news and entertainment in one place.
Facebook has an extensive user base, and many social networking users claim news as a primary reason for Facebook and Twitter use. As seen in the graph above, Experian Hitwise conducted a study finding 3.52% of the upstream visits to News and Media websites came directly from
Facebook last week. Compared to 1.39% from Google News and a decline in printed newspapers,
Facebook looks to be the most popular news source.
Facebook has a huge lead in that everybody is already there, and they're spending more and more time there checking their live feed, playing games, sharing photos and posting status updates. If news is right in your live feed, you are going to see news articles there frequently without having to search for it. Have you subscribed to your favorite news source yet?