Because That's Where the Recruits Are

So why do we strategically spend time placing our news in social media formats?  Because studies continue to show that millennials find their news in social media, and contrary to the Twitterati's over-attachment with their platform and news, more millennials find news in Facebook.

You can read the Pew Research Center report that is behind this and many traditional news stories recently at this link.  Something to keep in mind, this was by brand, not "social media".  Twitter, for example, had about the same usage across generations.  It was Facebook -- the one that "none of the kids" are on any more -- that had the generational shift.

Why?

My theory:  It's their internet.  The Gen X grew up with websites, and they live in the domain name world.  The Boomers tuned to a channel, either over the air or on cable.

But the Millennials?  Just like they wouldn't begin to know how to use an 8-track, they grew up inside social media.  Sure, they socialize more on the newer mobile platforms -- Snapchat, InstaGram, etc. -- but they get their information from their reference point.

I've argued for some time that websites are now used as almanacs, the Wikis of our enterprises, because no one uses a printed reference anymore.  News doesn't come in a paper, it arrives in email or social.

That's not to say we don't use all our operative platforms, but the old Willie Sutton meme reigns supreme here:  because that is where they are.