Pew Reports: How People Learn About Their Local Community

The most popular local topics are weather (89% of people get it), breaking news (80%); local politics (67%) and crime (66%). The least popular on our list of topics are zoning and development information (30%), local social services (35%), job openings (39%) and local government activities (42%).
Nearly half of adults (47%) use mobile devices to get local news and information. Not surprisingly, mobile is particularly popular for “out and about” categories of information, such as restaurants. And 41% of all adults can be considered “local news participators” because they contribute their own information via social media and other sources, add to online conversations, and directly contribute articles about the community. Both these groups are substantially more likely than others to use the internet to get local news and information on almost all topics.
Social media is becoming a factor in how people learn about their local community, but it is not as popular as other digital forms. In all, 17% of adults say they get local information on social networking sites like Facebook at least monthly.
Mobile phone applications, or “apps,” have yet to emerge for most local topic areas. Even now, though, 5% of Americans say they rely on a mobile app for weather information.
Old-fashioned word of mouth is still a factor in sharing local news and information, especially at the neighborhood level for information about local businesses, restaurants and schools. In all 55% of all adults get local news and information via word of mouth at least once a week. Word of mouth is particularly likely to be cited by younger residents as one of their top platforms for community events. Adults age 40 and older are more likely to prefer word of mouth as a source for local politics, local government activity, housing and real estate, zoning, and social services.
The websites of newspapers and TV stations do not score highly as a relied-upon information source on any topics. They have gained modest footholds as sources that users rely upon for a variety of topics, including weather information, crime, politics, and breaking news, but overall they consistently score in the low single digits when it comes to being the source that people rely upon on any of the topics we queried.

Age is the most influential demographic

While there are a variety of demographic dimensions that are linked to the way people get local news and information, the most striking is the difference between younger and older information consumers. Simply put, one generation into the web, older consumers still rely more heavily on traditional platforms while younger consumers rely more on the internet. Among adults under age 40, the web ranks first or ties for first for 12 of the 16 local topics asked about.

If someone is under age 40, she tends to get the following kinds of local news and information from the following places:

Internet: weather, politics, crime, arts/cultural events, local businesses, schools, community events, restaurants, traffic, taxes, housing, local government, jobs, social services, and zoning/development
Newspapers: crime, arts/cultural events, community events, taxes, local government, jobs, social services, zoning/development
TV stations: weather, breaking news, politics, crime, traffic, local government, and social services
Radio: traffic
Word of mouth: Community events

If she is 40 or older, she tends to get the following kinds of news in the following places:

Newspapers: politics, crime, arts/cultural events, local businesses, schools, community events, restaurants, taxes, housing and real estate, government activities, jobs, zoning/development, social services
TV stations: weather, breaking news, politics, traffic, crime
Internet: local businesses, restaurants

This move by younger users to rely on the internet for local information puts considerable pressure on traditional news organizations. Even though most have moved aggressively online with ambitious websites and social media strategies, there is evidence in the data that people find specialty websites and search engines a preferable way find the local material they want.

Part 2: The local topics people follow and the information sources they use

One of the newer realities of this environment is that people now have greater ability to get material on the subjects that most matter to them and not bother with those that don’t. It is clear from this survey that not all local topics are equally popular. The survey asked a nationally-representative sample of adults whether they ever get news and information about 16 different local topics. Data show that while some local topics are followed by the large majorities of adults (weather, breaking news, politics and crime), others (zoning and development, social services, job openings) interest much smaller segments of adults.

Moreover, the demographic portrait of the audience changes by topic, and often in turn reflects the platforms they rely on. For instance, if a subject is particularly appealing to older consumers, traditional platforms such as television news and newspapers are often the primary sources. On the other hand, if the subject is particularly relevant to younger adults, then the internet is likely to be the top source for that information.

In addition to the topic-specific demographic patterns noted (Editor's Note: We eliminated this graphic due to its smaller-size print), several broad local news consumption patterns emerged. As a rule, those with higher levels of education and higher levels of income are more likely to follow most of the local news topics asked about, particularly those with a civic dimension such as politics, government news, and community events. In addition, those who are older and those who have lived in their communities longer are more likely than younger people and community newcomers to be tuning in to information about many local topics, including social services, tax issues, and local schools.

Read the entire Pew Center report online.

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