Social media has overtaken television as young people's main source of news, according to a new report.

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism research stated that 51% of people with online access use social media as a news source.

Trend

The trend, which it's felt reflects the growing rise in mobile phone use as the first point of accessing news, is now undermining traditional business models according to the YouGov survey.

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. Only 7% of people paid for news on-line in the UK.

The BBC Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones stated: "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%

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."

However, even though according to the survey, consumers are happy to have their news selected by algorithms, with 36% saying they would like news chosen based on what they had read before, 30% still wanted the human oversight of editors and other journalists in picking the news agenda.

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. Only 7% of people paid for news on-line in the UK4BR

Editors

The report author Nic Newman stated: "People like the convenience of algorithms choosing their news but are worried about whether that would mean they were missing out on key points or challenging viewpoints".