Of the 18-to-24-year-olds surveyed, 28% cited social media as their main news source, compared with 24% for TV. These figures demonstrate how central to our lives our mobile phones have become.
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism research also suggests 51% of people with online access use social media as a news source.
This trend and the rising use of mobile phones to access news are undermining traditional business models.
The report, now in its fifth year, is based on a YouGov survey of about 50,000 people across 26 countries, including 2,000 Britons.
In its introduction, the report says "a second wave of disruption" has hit news organisations around the world, with "potentially profound consequences both for publishers and the future of news production".
For older media organisations struggling to find a profitable path in the online era, there is little comfort to be found in this report.
Under 10% of readers in English-speaking countries have paid anything for online news in the past year - so advertising looks the only sustainable business model.
No wonder, then, that the march of the ad-blockers is seen by some news businesses as a threat to their very survival.
And while there still seems to be a big appetite for news, it is to social-media platforms that users are increasingly turning to find it.
This means Facebook is the most powerful force in global news, potentially offering publishers access to vast audiences but leaving them dependent on the whims of its algorithm.
Read the full article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36528256
