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Social media, apps becoming more influential for mobile newshounds

More than half of those who use social networks on mobile are doing so to find news, according to a new study.

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Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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We are consuming news on mobile devices more than ever before, but our avenues to that news appear to be shifting to social media and news apps, according to a report released Wednesday by the Knight Foundation.

The study, commissioned by Nielsen, found that 89 percent of mobile device owners use their handset to access news. More than half of those who use social networks on their device are using their networks to find news. And social media now trails only television as our top sources of news, according to the study.

The study also found that while mobile news seekers use both websites and news apps, 75 percent of news time is spent within apps, suggesting greater engagement.

"Mobile devices allow people to stay constantly connected, affecting how they interact with information in the moment, and demanding a different approach to news delivery," Luz Gomez, Knight Foundation director for learning and impact, said in a statement.