Internet Leapfrogs Newspaper

Did you hear? It’s the news sensation this year. After the emergence of its successful campaigning run during the election season, the internet has leapfrogged newspaper in people’s cited source for their news. It may not come as a surprise for most of us, who spend nearly six hours a day online, doing business, blogging, emailing and ordering their wives’ flowers... but it may be a shocker to those folks who have spent every morning of their lives, reading the newspaper over breakfast and coffee. According to the Pew Research Center, 40% of those surveyed reported they get most of their news on national and international issues from the internet. This is up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time in a Pew study, more people say they rely mostly on the internet for news than cite newspaper (35%). Television continues to be the most frequently cited source for national and international news, at 70%.

However, for young people, the internet now rivals television as a main source of news, with nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news online. In September 2007, twice as many young people said they relied on television for news than mentioned the internet (68% vs. 34%). This new study comes in the wake of a newspaper powerhouse, the New York Times, making a move it said it would never make: selling front page display ads on its web site. This effort was the latest step to seek new ways for the corporate giant to make money as it deals with a prolonged ad revenue downturn. The New York Times is one of the last major news web sites to cave in to front page advertising. In the past, their mentality was that online advertising on the front page jeopardized the integrity of the journalism. And it is widely believed that this is the first front page ad the New York Times has ever seen.

Yet even in a recession, the big guys need a little help, even when they are the laggards of an online trend that seems to be here to stay. It just goes to show that pennies can come before pride. Pride is something we squash at the door here at Volacci, unless its the pride of improving your web site’s ranking in all the search engines, increasing your profit margins and maximizing your conversion rates. Volacci is proud about one thing: Your Profit. Our Passion.