It’s known, at least anecdotally, that newspapers and other traditional outlets for journalism are drifting away in the wake of the instant reporting and crowd-sourced nature of online news. Schools.com, a site that helps students find online universities and degree programs, has prepared a handy infographic illustrating just how quickly the web is taking over.

The statistics are taken from a pew research survey published this year and the facts come from news stories throughout the past year. Some of the highlights include:

• Online news revenue has, as of this year, surpassed newspaper revenue.
• 27.8% of people now get their news through social media, though around 60% still watch news on TV.
• Traffic to news sites generated from social media has increased 57% over the last 3 years.
• Over 49% of people have heard false breaking news stories from social media

False news reports, especially celebrity deaths, have been a staple of the web since before Twitter even existed. Still, those new to social media might not yet have the “common sense” to be skeptical of everything they read online. The infographic ends with a warning for news readers to always double-check facts with a “trusted news source” I’ll do them one better and say that readers should always follow as many back-links as they can and try to find the original source of the story.

Courtesy of: Schools.com