Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Artifact 1

The "Internet Surpasses Television" article states that people of the ages eighteen to twenty-nine have said that the Internet is their number one source for national and international news. This study does not surprise me due to most young adults using the Internet for everything. You rarely see an eighteen year old kid watching the news on television every day. It is simply easier to look up the news online at any time during the day as opposed to waiting until a certain time period in the day. It is also easy too look up the news on the Internet because many Internet homepages have news on them daily, so every time you get online it is right in front of your face. 

The article also states that this "trend" is beginning to pick up in older Americans as well. Those who have jobs can get on their computers at work and look at the daily news instead of reading newspapers and magazines. Any news, international, or national, is just a click away for anyone.

I believe that as the years go by, the percentage of people using the Internet to get their daily dose of the news will continue to rise. The fact that it is easier to access the news from our computers is why the numbers keep rising. You can get access to almost every news station around the world through the Internet, which you cannot get with a television. Televisions limit you to a few local news channels, and maybe a few others like ABC, NBC, or CBS whereas the Internet allows to you get the news anywhere in the country, and even the weather in a completely different country if need be.

The growing number of Facebook and Twitter users is also mentioned in the article. Both of these social network cites have gained millions of users since the year 2007. Twitter posts have gone up an unbelievable amount since 2007, with almost 90 million tweets a day as opposed to the 5,000 daily in 2007. Facebook is becoming more and more popular with older adults as well as teenagers. Many older people have a Facebook account to keep up with distant family members or friends, whereas everyone that is in college has at least one Facebook account and maybe even a Twitter account. Both of these cites are just different ways to let people know what you do in your daily life and be able to keep up with everyone you have as a friend or follower.

The last thing the article mentions is something called Internet television. This is something that I mainly see with sports web cites doing a "web cast" type thing or maybe putting something like SportsCenter on a live stream for people to watch that do not have access to a TV. I know ESPN.com even puts highlights of the games online instead of the whole show so people can get their sports fix without having all of the added commercials.

In conclusion, this article does not surprise me in that the number of Internet users to access the news has gone up. It is a lot easier to get it online at anytime rather than to wait until your local news comes on at a certain time of the day. You are also able to access more news on the Internet than a TV. Social network cites are also becoming more popular because they make it easier for distant family and friends to keep in touch, while also letting all of your friends and followers know what you are doing at each point in your day.

1 comment:

  1. I would have to agree with you that a huge reason why this trend continues to grow is because of how easy it is to access the news from our internet is. It is absolutely easier, more efficient, and quicker than having to sit through maybe an entire television news cast. Also, it is absolutely crazy to me when I see the numbers regarding how Facebook and Twitter have exploded since 2007. I knew that they had absolutely grown at an incredible rate the past three or four years, but I was never aware on exactly how much. The numbers to me were so shocking. Lastly I also thought that it was a huge part of the article when it mentioned how there was Internet television now. To me this just shows how huge the Internet has gotten because it shows that people are now even getting on the internet to watch television shows instead of having to sit through the unwanted commercials.

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