By Suzanne Choney
The Internet ranks as a "top source of information for most" local matters of interest — from housing to jobs, a new report finds.a
"The rise of search engines and specialty websites for different topics like weather, job postings, businesses and even e-government have fractured and enriched the local news and information environment,” said Lee Rainie, a co-author of the study and director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.a
The report, "How People Learn About Their Local Community," was done in conjunction with Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, in partnership with John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Pew surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,251 adults age 18 and older last January about 16 local topic areas, from the arts to zoning. The survey has an overall margin of error of 2 percentage points.a
"Among all adults, the Internet is either the most popular source or tied with newspapers as the most popular source for five of the 16 local topics in the survey — from restaurants and businesses to housing, schools and jobs," Pew said.a
"Among the 79 percent of Americans who are online, the Internet is an even more significant source for local news and information. Looking just at this group, the Internet is the first or second most important source for 15 of the 16 local topics examined. The Internet ran a distinct third place for local crime news, a category for which Internet users are more likely to turn to newspapers and television. However, for most local information topics asked about — from local restaurants to weather to politics to local businesses — Internet users have found online-only sources that they rely upon."a
It's important to note that, for the study, these Internet sources don't "include the websites of legacy media," such as newspapers that also have websites.a
Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellent in Journalism, and a report co-author, said the researchers "found that for some things" — local weather, breaking news and to a lesser degree, traffic — "TV matters most, for others newspapers and their websites are primary sources, and the Internet is used for still other topics."a
"But local TV ranks fairly low on the breadth of information that people rely on TV for," Pew said. "The key is that TV is the source of choice for the topics that almost everyone tends to follow. Indeed, 89 percent of adults follow the weather regularly and 80 percent follow breaking news, the majority of them via their local TV station."a
Long-suffering newspapers — hit hard by the loss of advertising for jobs, housing and autos, much of which has migrated to websites — continue to play a key local role for certain topics, like crime, zoning or taxes, issues that aren't "as much an everyday topic," said Rainie.a
"The challenge for newspapers is that many of these topics are ones that people do not follow as often," he said. a
Mobile, too, has "become a local news medium," Pew found. "Nearly half of adults (47 percent) use mobile devices to get local news and information of some kind, but it is largely supplemental. Even now, though, 5 percent of Americans say they rely on a mobile app for weather information."a
Phone apps themselves "draw very little attention at this point on the local scene, but it isn’t hard to sketch a scenario where they will matter more in coming years," said Kristen Purcell, Pew Internet head of research who also worked on the report.a
In asking those surveyed "where do you go for information" for the 16 different topics, the result was a "very nuanced portrait," Pew said.a
"In this ecosystem of community news and information, very old and very new sources blend. For instance, word of mouth remains a key information source even in the digital age, ranking second as the source people use at least weekly to get local information, behind only local TV."a
Pew's findings also include these snapshots:a
No "one platform is outpacing another in delivering all community news and information," with 64 percent using at least three sources of media weekly to get local news and 15 percent using six sources weekly. Loyalty to any one source is not high; 45 percent say they don't have a favorite local news source. "The new data explodes the notion, for instance, that people have a primary or single source for most of their local news and information." Age is the most "influential demographic" in the study. "Simply put, one generation into the Web, older consumers still rely more heavily on traditional platforms while younger consumers rely more on the Internet. Among adults under age 40, the Web ranks first or ties for first for 12 of the 16 local topics asked about." Weather is the most popular local topic that people get info on, followed by breaking news, local politics and crime. Least popular: zoning and development information, social services (including housing and health care), local job openings and government activities. Local news is "highly participatory," with 41 percent saying they contribute information "via social media and other sources." These folks are "substantially more likely than others to use the internet to get local news and information on almost all topics." 16 percent say they share local news on social networking sites like Facebook, and 17 percent say such sites are where they get local information at least monthly.
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Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.a
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