Pew Internet Study: How People Learn About Their Local Community

 

A 5-part Pew Internet Study came out this week that takes a deeper look at “How people learn about their local community” We found some of the facts to be particularly interesting and wanted to highlight a few of them here:

• “For adults generally, the Internet is a main source for information about restaurants and other local businesses.” In fact, 56% of Americans rely on the Internet for information specifically on restaurants and other local businesses.
• When it comes to searching for information about local businesses, age isn’t a factor: like consumers under 40, Pew found that the 40+ crowd is also beginning to use the internet to research local businesses.
• “Now, information services like Yelp, which offers citizen reviews and restaurant information... are mainstays in many communities [and] the audience has gravitated to [these] new platforms.”
• “Only small percentages of adults said they relied most on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter for local information. Those sites are included in the internet category, but within this category run a distant third behind search engine and special topic sites.”