News becomes more accessible. What role do curated media platforms play?

The internet has revolutionized information distribution structures, profoundly altering how we encounter and engage with news. In recent years, news curation apps have gained prominence. These apps select the most relevant news from diverse sources for individual users and deliver it directly to their smartphones.

As if foreshadowing the future of this "smartphone + news" model, Facebook announced "Instant Articles" in May, establishing a system to deliver articles from newspapers, magazines, and viral media to users at overwhelmingly faster speeds within its mobile app. Twitter also began offering a "News" menu in its official app starting late June, with observations suggesting it is preparing its own curation service.

Couldn't these developments be seen as signs that the distance between "news curation" for learning about society and "SNS" for learning about friends is clearly beginning to shrink?

According to a survey conducted by our research department, users perceive curated media as being closer to SNS or magazines.

Figure 1 summarizes usage scenarios. While the survey allowed multiple answers for usage scenarios and applied correspondence analysis, we've simplified it into a chart for this column (Figure 2 follows the same approach). Here, we see that curated media is perceived as similar to magazines and SNS based on factors like "waiting or break times," "when content notifications arrive," and "searching for topics to discuss with others."

Similarly, Figure 2 summarizes usage purposes. Curated media, SNS, and magazines form a cluster based on common elements like "efficient information gathering" and "access to detailed or valuable information." As seen in Figure 1's results, they occupy a position contrasting with television and newspapers.

The perception of SNS and curation as very similar is also related to the changing connotation of the word "news," particularly among younger generations, shifting toward something softer. Rather than "world affairs" or "social issues," there is a growing tendency to recognize "things I'm interested in" and "events happening within familiar human relationships" as the "news" worth checking. Considering this sociocultural background, the trends discussed so far become more understandable.

DENTSU SOKEN INC. Media Innovation Research Department "The Future of News and Media in the Curation Era" Survey Overview

■Survey Participants

Nationwide males and females aged 15–69 (excluding junior high school students), allocated according to gender, age group, and residential area population ratios

Valid Sample Size: 4,367

■Survey Method

Online questionnaire survey

■Survey Period

Friday, March 6, 2015 to Monday, March 9, 2015