Understanding the Participatory News Consumer

A news item reminded me of a recent Pew Study in the area of online news.  In mousing around, I found the full report from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and Project for Excellence in Journalism.  Some interesting results:

• 92% of Americans use multiple platforms (media) for news
• 33% of cell phone owners access news on their cell phones
• 28% of internet users have customized their home page to include news
• 37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news, shared news stories with others, or commented on news reports.
• 55% of Americans think it's easier to keep up with the news today than it was five years ago
• 70% of Americans feel the amount of news and information available various sources is "overwhelming"

Some of these results suggest that the internet is not just expanding outlets and increasing competition, but is changing the nature of news consumption and dissemination.

Pew press release on study
Report's Summary of Findings - Online News survey (January 2010)
Download Full Report (pdf)