How does social media affect the news? A new study gives us insights and answers. Because one of the participation incentives was a copy of the results, I participated in the 2010 PR Week/PR Newswire Media Survey. Released recently, the survey measures the uses and applications of social media by PR practitioners and journalists. You’ll find a few results here including how blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn and twitter factor into news making, reporting and placement.

A few of the more fascinating [to me] overall findings.

A new question to the survey, but an issue that appears important to success: When asked if building a personal brand was a consideration in their work, the majority of US (52%) and Canadian media (60%) responded either “extremely important” or “important.” The majority of bloggers now view themselves as journalists – 52%. This is a marked increase from 2009 when just one in three had the same opinion. Yet, despite viewing themselves as professional, only 20% derive the majority of their income from their blog work; a 4% increase from 2009.

2010 Media Survey of Journalists and PR Practitioners Readers Guide

Source for all information and quotes.

Sponsors
PR Week/PR Newswire

Media Respondents
1,568 traditional and non-traditional media

PR Respondents
1,670 PR practitioners

Canadian Connection
CNW Group

History
Third annual

Objective
Gauge the attitudes and ideas of traditional journalists and bloggers, as well as PR professionals, to gain an understanding of the present state of the media profession and the trends that are continuing to shape the industry.

Published Article
PRWeek April 2010

Price
$19.95 for article only

PR Practitioners who pitched a journalist via social media

43% yes
57% no

PR Practitioners use these social networks to target journalists

76% twitter
49% Facebook
30% LinkedIn
5% other

Journalists tell types of company blogs that are most useful

51% not useful
23% employee
19% product
7% CEO

Journalists answer to: Ever quote a blog in a story?

55% no
45% yes

Journalists answers to: Have you ever been pitched via a social network?

2009
31% yes
69% no

2010
43% yes
57% no

Journalists have social networking profiles on theses sites

Facebook
79% 2010
58% 2009

LinkedIn
64% 2010
53% 2009

Twitter
58% 2010
22% 2009

Journalists received pitches on these social media sites

Facebook
62% 2009
61% 2010

LinkedIn
42% 2009
34% 2010

Twitter
18% 2009
44% 2010

How often journalists use twitter for research

48% never
27% rarely
21% sometimes
4% always

How does your social media and PR approach compare to the survey’s results? Thanks for your comments!

Barbara

Rather than print out pages of handouts, I’m posting my Digital PR workshop materials here for the world to enjoy.

First, we’ll talk about how to become your own publicist using the PR P-R-I-M-E-R

Next, we’ll go over the Digital PR=Publicity Repositioned presentation.

Then, we’ll cover essential elements of online and social media press releases.

And, we’ll cover some real-life success stories. Have to join us in person to see those, but here are some videos to inspire and inform.

Disclosure: image provided by shutterstock.com

Have you tried do-it-yourself online PR? What lessons would you share?