Social networks like Facebook could offer a modern approach for getting news, reported CQ Politics. Politicians, journalists and news networks have created their own Facebook pages to share news stories, photos and video, to update other members about their blogs or columns, as well as to interact through polls or applications like Twitter.

Facebook may have become a sort of "secondary distribution system" for opinion writers and journalists, who hope that "their efforts at viral marketing increase their audiences at a time of sagging circulation and viewership", reported CQ Politics.

As a marketing tool, Facebook may help boost readership amidst the ongoing troubles that the US newspaper industry is facing, like circulation loss and declining ad revenue.  

Facebook users are "becoming known as a relevant source of news and information in reaching a new audience," said Ellyn Angelotti, who does interactivity research at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

Users may now be more selective in the news they choose to read. Angelotti mentioned that it is more likely that she would look at what her friends and social network would suggest, as opposed to editors.

Members include New York Post's editorial writer and columnist Robert A. George, who links to his writings on his Facebook page, and newspapers like the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Susan Page, USA Today's Washington office chief, said that she "definitely sees some workplace potential" in Facebook.

Source: CQ Politics