Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Facebook and Twitter are increasingly becoming news sources for its users, but news is not necessarily the reason why people are logging onto these social networking sites. It just so happens that news ends up being part of the social media experience.

That’s according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

"One of the things we saw early on is the degree to which people describe this as 'incidental news...And that's something that's being reinforced." -- Amy Mitchell, director of journalism research for the Pew Research Center

The findings cement the fact that both users and news organizations must continue to wrestle with social media, its different features and their implications.

“Social media is certainly a part of Americans’ news streams, and it’s going to continue to be a part of that,” said Amy Mitchell, director of journalism research for the Pew Research Center.

“And the different ways people connect with these platforms will influence how they learn about their communities and the world.”...

Quartz released its first news app Thursday, available exclusively on iPhones. The interface isn’t like your usual news app -- instead, it’s like iMessage for news.Quartz, the 4-year-old business news publication owned by Atlantic Media, announced in a post on its Web site  that the app is an “ongoing conversation about the news, sort of like texting.”

The app sends messages, photos, GIFs and links to users, who can tap to respond when interested in learning more about a topic. Each session lasts just a few minutes.

But Quartz’s app isn’t like Siri; it’s not an automated assistant. Instead, the responses are written by a team of Quartz writers and editors, led by Adam Pasick. According to The Verge, it’s the same team who are in charge of the company's "Daily Brief" newsletter....