Journalists rely on social media sources and search engines to find stories. In fact, online is the best way to connect with the media — even offline media.
Sally Falkow found this research from a national survey conducted by Cision and Don Bates of The George Washington University’s Master’s Degree Program in Strategic Public Relations. Findings: the majority of reporters and editors depend on social media sources when researching their stories. I hope to get a link to the report if it’s online, but here’s the summary of findings:
Where traditional media goes to find stories online:
- 89% read blogs
- 65% go to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn
- 52% use Twitter or similar services
- 61% use Wikipedia
These are sources they consult – but do they believe everything they read? No.
- 84% said social media sources were “slightly less” or “much less” reliable than traditional media
- 49% saying social media suffers from “lack of fact checking, verification and reporting standards
“Mainstream media have clearly hit a tipping point in their reliance on social media for their research and reporting,” said Heidi Sullivan, Vice President of Research for Cision. But they still need to confirm what they read.
What does traditional media look for?
- 44% of editors and reporters surveyed said “interviews and access to sources and experts”
- 23% want “answers to questions and targeted information”
- 17% need “perspective, information in context, and background information”
What does this mean to you?
- You should be active on social media- or know where to find the people you want to pitch.
- You should submit your news online.
- Your content should be optimized for search engines.
- Your content should be on social networking web sites.
- Video, images, charts & graphs help sell & tell the story. And remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect – just authentic!
Sally gives some great links to use Twitter for media relations – MediaOnTwitter, MuckRack, JournalistTweets and Twellow
She also says to learn to use del.icio.us to make fact pages for a press release. Anyone have an example of a good fact page they’ve seen? Last she recommends a social media newsroom to make it easy for reporters to find your content.
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