Smartphones Not A Prime News Source - Yet

Once upon a time, U.S. consumers mostly got their news from their local newspaper and a trusted TV network newscaster. Today, so-called traditional media have given way to a variety of new sources, mostly connected to the Internet.

But how far has that trend gone? Maybe not as far as you think, at least as far as smartphones are concerned.

Researchers at Ohio State University say consumers aren’t replacing newspapers and television with news from their mobile devices. Rather, they are simply using their smartphones to access news at times and places where traditional media aren’t available.

A different parth

That suggests mobile media use is taking a different path to popularity than did technologies like television, said John Dimmick, lead author of the study and professor of communication at Ohio State.

“Typically, what happens with new media is that they compete with and displace older media to a certain extent, like television did with radio,” Dimmick said. “But at least early in its development, mobile media isn’t taking us away from older media – it has its own separate niche.”

Old data?

The study, however, comes with a rather large caveat. The researchers point out the data was collected in 2007, when the smartphone universe was very small. After all, the first iPhone was introduced in June of that year. Smartphone use took it’s biggest leap in 2010, according to other studies.

So it may be hard to say for sure whether, or how much, smartphones have eroded traditional use.

In perhaps a sign of the times, the New York Times announced this week that it would begin charging consumers to view its online content, joining the Wall Street Journal as major traditional media charging online subscriptions.

The Times, at least, appears to think online access, either mobile or fixed, is where the money will be in the future.