Best ways to access the daily news, digitally. 

The way we receive news has been completely transformed by the Internet.

While we once gathered around the TV to catch the headlines, a recent Reuters survey has shown that Australians now use online outlets for news more than TV, radio, or print and 44 per cent name the internet as their single main source of news.  

A fast Internet connection not only makes it easier to access information, it also gives the public a chance to communicate and participate directly with the news.

Forty-eight per cent of us say we use Facebook for news, and there are a number of apps that bring the news headlines straight to our screens.

So with a world of news available at your fingertips, how do you find the tool that’s right for you?

Here’s five great ways to keep up to date, the way you want:

1. Flipboard: Your personal magazine

Flipboard is like a personalised magazine for the Internet. It takes stories from the web and reformats them so they are engaging and easy to flip through.

With access to the world’s most respected publishers and leading thinkers, it’s a single place to get all the news you’re interested in. It’s available on your computer, mobile and tablet, and you can even plug in your Facebook and Twitter to see what your friends are sharing.

2. News Apps

When it comes to news, there is no shortage of apps to satisfy every view, opinion and interest.

Sydney Morning Herald’s app brings together the best of the newspaper online to allow you to tailor the news to your interests. For fast-breaking news, the Associated Press is generally the first on the scene, their app provides bite-sized content covering the entire globe, along with your local news.

Yahoo! News Digest is a sleek, highly visual app that delivers the top stories twice a day, summarised and presented with just the key information.   

3. Social Media

Social media is fast becoming one of the main destinations for news online. In an age where information can be disseminated quickly, there’s no better tool to do it almost instantly than Twitter or Facebook.

There are many instances where global news has broken on Twitter first such as Royal weddings, celebrity deaths and natural disasters.

Anyone armed with a smart phone could break the next big story before the publishers, such as Janis Krums who tweeted the first photo of the Hudson River crash-landing, subsequently crashing the servers of TwitPic with its popularity. Follow your favourite broadcasters to get the news in your social networks.

4. Live Streaming

Periscope lets users broadcast live video to the world - its concept is to virtually transport you to places you might never see without the app.

Unencumbered by large TV cameras, journalists can move in and around world events getting us close to the action in real time. Periscope streamed breaking news events like Princess Charlotte leaving the hospital and the riot scenes in Baltimore.

Ustream is another popular live video streaming network powering two million broadcasts per month.

Politicians use it to broadcast debates where their audiences can interact with them via chat and polling features.

You can watch or broadcast both services on your computer, mobile and tablet.

5. Email newsletters

Newsletters are a great way of getting the top news of the day straight into your inbox.

theSkimm is a daily e-mail newsletter that tells you what’s going on in the world in a simple and engaging way. They do the reading for you and break down the latest news and information with fresh editorial content. TheSkimm breezes through the day’s news in a conversational, direct tone. Perfect reading for the commute into work.

need2know is a another morning email digest that offers top news from around the world in bite-sized summaries. It covers a range of topics - from politics to breaking news, from sport to entertainment and from business to odd news.