59% Of Journalists Worldwide Use Twitter, Up From 47% In 2012 [STUDY]
In a study titled “The New Normal for News,” Oriella PR Network surveyed more than 500 journalists spanning 14 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US).
The main finding? Digital media is more entrenched than ever before.
Oriella’s Global Digital Journalism Study 2013, the organization’s sixth annual investigation into the role and impact of digital media in newsrooms and news-gathering worldwide, reveals some interesting insights about tech age journalists. A few poignant highlights:
• Digital-first is increasingly the norm: 39% of journalists surveyed worldwide agree their title is now digital-first; the trend is especially pronounced in Canada, India, Russia, Italy and Sweden.
• More journalists are being asked to work harder: 46% of the journalists surveyed in 2013 agree they are expected to produce more content, up from 40% in 2012.
• Success of digital media is measured mostly by uniques: 50% of journalists globally measured success via unique visits (up to 68% in the US and 86% in Canada). France was the only country that more so measured success by increase in social media followers – 77% of French journalists say they are evaluated by increases in social media followers, 74% by how many likes or tweets they get.
• Online journalism is less lucrative: Only 20% of respondents worldwide agree that their publication earns more money online than from print, and 44% disagree.
• Journalists use social media to gather news stories, but only if the source behind those accounts is known and trusted: 51% of journalists worldwide say they use what Oriella referred to in the study as “microblogs” (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Weibo) to gather new stories; the figure falls to 25% when the source is unknown.
• There’s been a huge shift away from pre-packaged stories in the form of press releases: Only 7% of respondents say their press release in-tray is their first port of call. And there has been a big fall in use of corporate spokespeople, too – from 24% in 2012 to 16% this year.
• Journalists have become publishers, too: 55% of journalists agree that blogs are a great way to build a personal profile, and 34% have one. This year, 59% of journalists worldwide use Twitter; usage is highest in the UK, France, Spain, Canada, Australia and the US. But barely a third of German journalists say they have personal Twitter accounts.
• Publications are gravitating towards Google Plus: In 2012, 21% of respondents said their titles had a Google Plus page; this year the figure is 23%.
Read the full report here (PDF).
To compare this year’s report to last year’s, check out our 2012 Oriella report recap.
(Photo via Shutterstock)
