Report: What do we need the ‘Net for? Bars, restaurants, and clubs

A new Pew Research /Knight Foundation survey about Internet use is full of revelations about competition between newspapers, TV, and social networks for local news audiences. 79 percent of the United States population that's online now relies upon the 'Net for most key local subjects. But perhaps the most interesting section of the report is a list of the five local topics for which the online landscape is "the most relied upon source." Here they are:

Bars, restaurants and clubs: The survey was taken from January 12 through 25 and queried 2,251 adults (18+) on cell phones and landlines. About half (55 percent) of the respondents reached by Pew/Knight said that they periodically get updates on the best watering holes and eateries online.

"Those who seek such information are disproportionately female, age 18-39, college-educated, urban or suburban, and Internet users," the report notes.

A little over a fifth of them said they go to search engines for this information, especially if they're young or haven't lived in their area for very long. Around nine percent of them access interactive websites like Yelp. Two percent rely on social networking sites. But "here too young adults stand out as being more likely than their elders to rely on these Internet sources, as are those who live in non-rural areas."

Other local businesses: About 60 percent of all adults said they get their intel on local business (excluding clubs and restaurants) via search engines. Again, it is the young who opt to go this route, Pew/Knight notes. Ten percent go to websites that specialize in local enterprises.

Local schools and education: "Fully 58 percent of American adults say they get information about local schools and education," Pew/Knight concludes. No big surprise that these users tend to be the parents of kids. They're mostly female, aged 30-49.

Local jobs: 39 percent of these Pew/Knight respondents said they look for information about local jobs online. "They are disproportionately African-American, under age 40, and living in lower income households." Ten percent get their employment information from specialty sites. Eight percent use search engines. Less than one percent told Pew/Knight that they rely on social networking sites for the job hunting task.

Local housing and real estate. 43 percent of all Americans rely to some degree on the 'Net for information about housing and land rentals and purchases, Pew/Knight concludes. Nine percent access specialty sites. The same percentage access search engines.

But what about newspapers?

This survey defines the "Internet" as separate from newspapers and their online sites. Newspapers still lead or tie cyberspace as go-to places to search for housing and jobs. But Americans don't seem to be aware of the extent to which they depend on papers for local news and information.

Consider this Pew/Knight revelation. Almost seventy percent of respondents to the study said that if their local newspaper no longer existed, it would have no impact on their ability to keep up with local news and events. But the survey team got a very different picture when it queried the same people about particular local issues and the sources they accessed to get information about them.

Of sixteen local news topics the Pew focused on, newspapers either topped the list or tied for first with other sources. These subjects included taxes, crime, local government, local politics, education, local jobs, community/neighborhood news, arts, zoning news, and real estate/housing. This is particularly the case for older Americans.

"Newspapers play a much bigger role in people's lives than many may realize," Pew notes.

TV still first, sort of

The survey also finds that television still rules in local news-land, but only for a handful of topics. TV is the top source for weather and "breaking news." It ties with radio for traffic news. And television runs neck-and-neck with newspapers for local politics stories.

"In other words, local TV draws a mass audience largely around a few popular subjects," the report observes; "local newspapers attract a smaller cohort of citizens but for a wider range of civically oriented subjects."

But before you conclude that newspapers enjoy some kind of hidden windfall that nobody knew about until now, consider this. That "smaller cohort" is a lot smaller that the audience for television's offerings. Take stories about taxation. Sure, almost half of those who look for information about taxes (48 percent) get it from newspapers. That's twice the percentage that seek it from the Internet and TV.

But when you extend that percentage to the whole population, it means that only a fifth of Americans go to newspapers for tax news. "Thus, while newspapers command this subject area, most people simply do not seek out information about the subject of local taxes," Pew/Knight observes.

Bottom line: less people look for more information on newspapers, while more people look for less information on television. Meanwhile, the 'Net is drawing more and more eyeballs for data on housing, entertainment, and jobs—especially among the young.

"This move by younger users to rely on the Internet for local information puts considerable pressure on traditional news organizations," the report concludes. "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."