Half of Journalists Say Social Media is Critical to Work

Social media is a critical tool for journalists, according to the fifth annual “Global Social Journalism Study” published by Cision. More than half of U.S. journalists – 58 percent – say social media is “very important” for interaction and 62 percent feel it’s a critical channel for publishing and promoting content.

A total of 58 percent of U.S. journalists indicated they found social media “important” or “very important” in sourcing information.

The daily workflow of the majority of U.S. journalists includes social media, the survey found. About half of the respondents – 300 U.S. journalists and media professionals – indicated they would not be able to do their work without social media.

In the past three years, journalists’ daily activities on social media has grown significantly. For example, in 2013, 21 percent of journalists were using social media to connect with new people/contacts; in 2016, that number has more than doubled to 55 percent.

“These findings make it clear that social media is infused into the daily routines of journalists, underscoring the importance and integration of content distribution and influencer communications within the media landscape,” Ken Wincko, Cision’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, says in a press release.

Social networks and microblogging tools – Facebook and Twitter are the most popular – are used by roughly 80 percent of journalists for publishing and promoting content and more than half use these platforms for sourcing information.

Social Media ‘Indispensable’ for B2B Content Distribution

A May 2016 survey by Regalix found B2B marketers are also increasingly turning to social media channels as key tools for distributing content.

More than a quarter (27 percent) identify social media as an “indispensable” channel for content distribution in 2016. The data shows social media is now on par with traditional content distribution methods: websites (26 percent) and email (28 percent).

Lead generation was the top objective for content marketing initiatives (87 percent), followed by creating awareness (76 percent) and nurturing prospects and influencing purchases (69 percent).