Let me introduce myself. I’m a twenty-something college student at Michigan State University. I don’t have cable in my room and I only subscribe to several print magazines, but I read my college paper every day because it’s free and accessible on campus (and I work there, too). I don’t visit newspaper’s Web sites often for fear of obnoxious pop-up ads or ads that play ridiculous music. I read a lot on my phone. I catch up on my favorite TV shows with Hulu because I’m always behind and usual miss when they show on the air. What’s the radio? I’m rarely driving and when I am, I listen to music or Podcasts from my iPod which can connect to my car’s radio.

As if it hasn’t been said before, the media climate is changing. Dramatically. And it’s people like me that are killing it. Or are we?

I don’t think I’m unique at all when it comes to my media consumption. My generation does not subscribe to print newspapers, and I don’t believe we will any time soon. We love what’s free and don’t like to be annoyed with meaningless ads. I don’t go out to find news. The news is finding me. Here’s how:

• My Google Reader is king. I subscribe to a lot of different things and the information comes to me, without ads.
• My Twitter network is pretty awesome, too. They send me things I should be reading and also offer their opinion.
• I rely on my Facebook friends to post the ridiculous and crazy for the day. They never let me down.
• My LinkedIn groups share news about the companies I work for now and in the past. How cool is that?
• Sharing in general has never been easier. I can check out Digg and Delicious to see what other people think is newsworthy.
• My select Podcasts are easy to download to my iPod and even easier to refresh for new content.

Here are some things that I don’t like about newspapers:

• I hate it when a newspaper doesn’t have a good mobile site. I have a Blackberry and I really enjoy catching up on the news if I’m on a bus, waiting for class to start or anywhere else. A great version of this is the New York Times‘ mobile site. My employer, The State News, recently rolled out a mobile version of their new site and it beats the heck out of scrolling through ads and categories to get to the content.
• It’s frustrating when a newspaper’s Twitter account simply is an RSS feed of their content. I won’t follow anything or anyone that does this.
• I think local is what newspapers are totally missing out on. I really don’t care what the Freep has to say about Obama’s latest speech, but I do care about what’s going on in my hometown.

Newspapers need to adjust their mindset. No longer are people going to find the news; the [relevant] news is finding them. Here’s the challenge for newspapers: How do they get to me?

Photo by Wayan Vota on Flickr.