Moneda de cambio

Esta nota de la revista digital Slate habla de cómo los periódicos están perdiendo terreno frente a las plataformas digitales (leáse Facebook et al) como moneda de cambio social (la teoría tiene mucho que ver con este estudio de la AP sobre hábitos de consumo de información entre los jóvenes):
"If one of the great attractions of the newspaper was that it brought people together to rub noses, how can it compete for readers' time with sites like Facebook, which can also give you a real-world news dump if that's what you crave? Thanks to the Web, no interest need be esoteric any longer. Right now there isn't a Facebook group about one of my favorite topics, "meth mouth," but there is sure to be one a couple of minutes after I post this piece, with meth heads, dentists, and social workers networking through it.
The social networking that takes place via instant messaging, microblogging, or e-mail further steals from newspapers the mindshare they once owned. You no longer need to rely on a paper for the social currency that a weather report, movie listings, classified ads, shopping bargains, sports info, stock listings, television listings, gossip, or entertainment news provide. As falling circulation indicates, fewer do."