The global split in how people get news

People in poorer countries are just as likely as those in wealthier countries to use social media for news, according to a new study from Pew Research Center. Those poorer countries, however, are less likely to use PC-based desktop websites for news.

• Why it matters: "Compared with internet use for news — where the relationship between national economic status and online news use is evident — social media news use is not strongly related to country-level wealth."
• How could this be? The adoption of smart phones in developing countries that have skipped desktop computer adoption and went straight to mobile.
• In these countries, mobile apps — particularly lite versions of social media and messaging apps, like "Facebook Lite" and "Facebook Messenger Lite"— have become the top sources for news instead of websites, which consumers generally browse via desktops.

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