While Baby Boomers typically flip on local TV news to follow the latest political scandal, Millennials are more likely to scroll through their Facebook feeds.
According to a new Pew poll, news consumption breaks down along stark generational lines, with 61 percent of Millennials (aged 18-33) saying they get political news from Facebook each week, compared to only 39 percent of Boomers (aged 50-68). On the flip side, 60 percent of Boomers rely on local TV for news, while only 37 percent of Millennials say the same.
The results of the poll, which surveyed 2,901 adults, can be understood as part of a broader shift away from TV viewership among young people. While Boomers raised on cable news continue to depend on it, many young adults do not own televisions at all. Instead, Millennials seek out news on the same platforms where they’re already consuming other information: social networks.
As it turns out, this holds a key advantage in our highly fragmented media environment. According to the Pew researchers, “Most Facebook users who pay attention to political content…see views on the site that aren’t in line with their own.”
Really? I kind of doubt this as for Millennials, last time I checked, Facebook ceased being their social media platform of choice replaced by Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. FB is for “old” people.
Instagram is for fun
Twitter is for fun/venting
FB is for fun/venting/rants and discussions
All of the above at the same time.
Local TV? What does that mean? Is it supposed to exclude national broadcasts and cable news? Don’t see how it can, since there is only two or three percent left to attribute to anything besides Facebook or ‘local TV’.
Why would an uninformed Facebook user get their new from other uninformed Facebook users? Pigs in a sty are going to eat the same slop I suppose…
That was my impression as well.