Report Finds That Journalists Use Social Media For Research

Posted by: Bryce Cullinane in Social Media on Jan 21, 2010 Print PDF

A survey conducted by Cision and Don Bates of The George Washington University’s Master’s Degree Program in Strategic Public Relations found that an overwhelming majority of reporters and editors now depend on social media sources when researching their stories. Among the journalists surveyed, 89% said they turn to blogs for story research, 65% to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and 52% to microblogging services such as Twitter. The survey also found that 61% use Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia.

Bates commented that 

"This survey proves exactly what I and the other researchers on the study thought but didn't fully realize before we disseminated our questionnaire -- that the media, both traditional and online, have become as dependent as everyone else, even more so considering their responsibilties, on the Internet and social media, in particular, as key sources for facts, expert comment, professional opinion, story ideas, and more."

 

See the full results here.  

 
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written by e-commerce solutions, January 28, 2010
The reporters and editors have certainly taken the right path i.e. looking up the social media sources while doing their research work.Social media sites,blogs and microblogging services such as Twitter are certainly the "in" thing and people from any and every sphere of life now are hooked on to these for their personal and professional interests.Thanks for providing all the stats.
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written by Justin Milano, February 03, 2010
Conducting research is obviously a lot quicker these days with so many resources like Wikipedia and many others but we all have to be careful. Not all the information is as accurate as it should be so we each have a responsibility to continue digging a little deeper than just the mere surface to get it right. Very informative stuff and a real eye opener!

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