EML social media survey
EML survey reveals the majority of journalists are using Twitter to source news, yet 95% still rely on traditional press releases
* Over 50% of journalists have sourced news from Twitter
* Twitter is the most popular social sharing site used by journalists
* 95% of journalists still regularly rely on traditional press releases
EML today announced the results of a media survey of journalist preferences for sourcing and receiving news. Results showed that in addition to its use as an additional outlet for articles and opinions, over half of those responding to the survey have used Twitter to source news stories. Almost a quarter of journalists are using it frequently. However despite the rise of Twitter, nearly all journalists surveyed rely on the traditional press release.
Whilst highlighting the importance for businesses of an effective social media presence, Twitter emerged as the most popular social sharing site, being used more often than all other such tools put together. The 57% of journalists who are using these sites to share news content can open up a wealth of exposure for press release stories beyond the traditional publication, and this exposure may even be going unnoticed under the radar of traditional coverage monitoring.
The EML survey, which consulted a broad range of journalists across the technology trade, national press and bloggers, also revealed that the traditional press release is still a key PR tool with 95% of respondents still regularly relying on the standard format.
EML Client Services Director, David Marsden, explained, "We are spending a lot of time advising clients on strategies to integrate social media into their marketing activity. You don't have to be a high street brand targeting consumers to derive value from adding social media tools into the PR campaign. This burgeoning technique is still a relative unknown to many businesses struggling to justify stretched budgets. EML devised this survey in order to determine the extent to which journalists are now using social media such as Twitter to communicate, not just broadcast, and whether this affects the view of the more traditional press release. We have been pleased to see results support the value of businesses engaging in social media activity as a valuable tool in communicating with journalists, and EML continues to work with clients in utilising this."
The majority of respondents also responded positively when asked to review the format of a 'social media press release' which contained news content presented in a variety of different formats including video and social media links.
Although the number of respondents to this survey was in the tens rather than hundreds, they cover a broad range of media across trade, national and freelancer journalists. The sample is representative of EML's regular media contacts.