Media Consumption Trends
Based on my media diary, I have realized that I consume the news predominantly through my smartphone and my computer. This fact was not a surprise because I am almost always on my phone to communicate. I also use my computer more regularly now than I use to before coming to graduate school because my Mac easily connects every notification from my phone to my computer, even if it is not in the same room. From my media diary, I also realized that I hardly ever go directly to a news website or an application. I am predominantly led to the news through social media platforms or push alerts.
This exercise also helped me to see that I do not watch television as much as I use to and I never read the newspaper. I use to religiously watch the news on television throughout my undergraduate years, but now that I have wanted to become a digital journalist, my methods of consumption have drastically changed. I also know that I would not usually listen to the news on the radio because I do not drive that often, nor do I listen to the radio on my electronic devices. Also, I saw that I do not spend a lot of time with the news once I do get to the websites or applications. For the most part I skim what I feel I need and I quickly move on to the next thing after a few minutes. Finally, I realized that I am more concerned with the local news in my hometown, Detroit, Michigan, and my second home, Washington, D.C.
For a news publisher trying to reach me, it may be harder for them. I have realized that I have a somewhat filtered consumption of news. At times I may go out of my way to venture to other sites that I am not usually on, but for the most part I stay with the news that I am accustomed to such as BuzzFeed, CNN, and ClickOnDetroit. I also like to look at news that the people I follow on social media share to their feeds. Unless someone else shares it or it is in my daily go to news sources, then I will not be reachable.
As far as the business of news is concerned my ways of consumption might be a problem. It makes it harder to reach a wider audience. I make it a choice to look at different news sources, but most people only look at news if it goes viral. I believe this is how fake news got so big throughout these past two years. Also, I am not a person that pays for news. I would only be willing to pay for something like TheSkimm or certain applications because I feel they are important if I want to keep up with what is going on around the world.
I believe as technology continues to change, reaching a wider audience will be the constant strategy for old and new media companies. I am not sure how companies will be able to reach more audiences, but I feel like they are beginning to find new effective strategies. For example, many media companies saw how lucrative Snapchat was as a platform and they found ways to creatively put their content on discovery. Through Snapchat, I have been exposed to more media companies than I had before. This was a good strategy to go where they knew people already were. I believe if the media continues to do this, being able to monetize should not be a problem.
