Millennials: The News Business Is Adapting for You!

One of my favorite questions to ask when interviewing an entry-level candidate is what their favorite 3 news sources are and how they consume that news (whether it’s in print, online, broadcast etc.) Over the years, the list has shifted from reading the print copies of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times to online publications such as BuzzFeed, Business Insider and The Atlantic. However, the millennial generation has changed the way we consume news and the way that news sources need to provide the news.

Gone are the days when the only way to consume the news was to pick up a print copy or watch the news and now we live in a world were everything is at our finger tips – literally. The proliferation of mobile has brought about it the advent of social media and social media has changed the way that millennials and future generations consume the news.

It started with people using Facebook to share articles of interest to them and media outlets jumped on board by sharing their articles directly and now we see Facebook Live posts surrounding the elections and other news events. Twitter has been a phenomenal way to read the morning’s headlines in 140 characters or less and then click through to read the full article. Now we’re at the point where news sources are using SnapChat to share the news with an even younger audience.

Earlier this week, I was on a conference call with a client who we’ve been talking to about social media. As we waited for the others to join the call, he mentioned to me how he had just seen the “magic of social media” from his daughter. He was particularly surprised and impressed by her knowledge of the Presidential election and he asked her how she knew all of the information she was sharing with him. She replied, “I follow the election coverage on SnapChat!”

While social media is a great way to consume and share media, it is important to remember the value of reading a print copy or watching a segment on live television in order to see the context behind the column – where it is placed in the print copy, how often it publishes etc. – and when watching on television – which segment block it’s in.