:: antropologi.info ::

The number of young newspaper readers is declining. In order to better understand the behaviors of young readers, Associated Press commissioned a team of anthropologists to follow 18 young individuals around the world and examine their media habits, the Editors Weblog reports.

The Anthropologists found few major cultural differences. “The young digital consumers in Hyderabad were very similar to the ones in Silicon Valley in the United States", said Jim Kennedy from AP.

The researchers uncovered the social aspects of reading news: Almost all of their informants shared news with each other, through text messages, emails and social networks. “These young consumers are looking up to news as a form of social currency", Kennedy said.

Strangely enough, 16 of the 18 individuals consumed news through email, “a popular and powerful platform that often tends to be discounted by traditional media", according to the Editors Weblog.

The full results of the study will be presented at the 2008 World Editors Forum in Gothenburg, Sweden, to be held June 1-4.

>> read the whole story on the Editors Weblog

SEE ALSO:

Ethnographic Study on “Digital Kids”

Why the head of IT should be an anthropologist: The true value of IT will come not from information or technology per se but from the social side

Introduction to “Media Worlds": Media an important field for anthropology

Online: EASA-conference papers on media anthropology