According to a study at the Jaume I University in Castellón, just under 29% of the population of people aged 16 – 30 read online or conventional newspapers daily. The study also found that three out of every four individuals within this age bracket turn to social networking sites for information, even more so than they go to the television for news.
In the past decade, there has been a large drop-off in readership of printed newspapers, especially among the younger demographics, which is rapidly decreasing. The study shows that almost 75% of those aged 16-30 use social networks to stay informed, a larger number than those even watching news on the television.
If the trends continue, newspapers face not only a lost audience, but also the inability to capture the next generation.
News outlets have turned to the Internet to get the word out, but that also comes at a cost. Even though study participants lived in different cities and had differing levels of education, they overwhelmingly refused to pay to access current news. Only 6.2% said they would be willing to subscribe to a media source. Furthermore, over 76% said they would visit a free website if their site of choice began to charge for content. Overall, only 17.1% said they would discontinue Internet use for news altogether if there were no free means.
These statistics show that even the new business model of offering content online at a charge will need to adapt in order to flourish in the digital age. The aforementioned age group does take an interest in staying informed, however, but the study just helps further the understanding that news is a public service that must always be available for free whenever the reader wants.
As far as gender goes, men lean towards journalistic information more than women. They tend to consult a high number of sources and are more inclined to pay for news content. Women put more value on the importance of being well-informed in order to be good citizens.
The researcher suggests that newspapers find strategies to reconnect with young people. While they are interested in news, they aren’t inclined to use information that doesn’t respond to their needs and interests. It also suggests that journalistic media heavily adopt social network use to reach out to the youth, especially since this is how most of them get their information. Without adapting strategies to meet the consumption habits or news conceptions of young people, journalistic media will see their business models fail in the near future, and will possibly disappear altogether.

Timing is crucial during the Olympics. Just think of the 100m dash —  a fraction of a second is the difference between the gold, silver or no medal at all. Omega is the official timekeeper of the London 2012 Olympic Games, providing scoreboards, countdowns and some new timing technologies that will allow for more data-crunching than ever before. One such technology, The Quantum Timer, can simultaneously compare 16 competitors at once with accuracy down to one-millionth of a second.

With advanced timing comes advanced analytics. This is the first year that data from all 26 Olympic events will be fed to Atos’ Commentator Information System (CIS.) Results from Omega are relayed to CIS in less than a second, which are instantly shared with Olympic officials, broadcasters around the world, press agencies, etc. In addition to the competitive results, CIS takes into account the many factors that can affect who gets the gold- athlete information, weather, event schedules and more. Atos predicts a 30% increase in data captured at the 2012 London Games compared to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Another way technology is playing a role in the 2012 Games is through social media. You can stay up to date on Olympic happenings with Twitter, Facebook and Olympic websites (London2012.com, Olympic.org, NBCOlympics.com.) If Olympic athletes are social media gold, then the Olympic Hub is the jackpot.  Find out which athletes have the most followers on Twitter, learn about featured athletes from around the world and get the latest Olympic updates.

But wait, there’s more! Follow #London2012 on Twitter to get a live feed of the Opening Ceremony this Friday. Wondering where the Olympic torch is right now? You can find out on Twitter by searching for #London2012TorchRelay for the latest.

How will you stay connected during the #London2012 games?

Examples of both positive and negative use of social media surround the recent London riots.  Some British citizens broadcasted messages on Twitter and Facebook to encourage destruction and riots in their hometown. Other locals sent messages to organize clean up crews.

In a backlash to social media overload came another powerful medium- handwritten notes. Post-it notes expressing hope for the future appeared on destructed property around Britain. People were upset that their neighborhood coffeeshop/ boutique/pub fell victim to the riots.  

So what is an appropriate response for too much looting? Clean up crews and brooms. Too much social media? A handwritten smiley face To read more about post-it note walls, click here.