38% of Journalists Would (Possibly) Receive News from Company Twitter Handles

By Kyle Austin

April 22nd, 2009

The TEKgroup, an Internet software and services company that develops online newsrooms, has come out with findings from their annual Online Newsroom Survey which was given to nearly 1,200 journalists. With the rapid adoption of social media, this year’s survey took a closer look at the social media tools that journalists are interested in using to connect with companies.

Interestingly enough, TEKgroup noted that 38% of journalists indicated they would or would possibly (more on that later) receive news via company tweets. The finding, compared with recent results from the “2009 PRWeek/PR Newswire Media Survey,” seemed a bit high. PRWeek’s survey of 2,000+ traditional and non-traditional journalists in early April found that:

• 22 % of journalists were on Twitter
• Only 18% had been pitched via Twitter

However, when you take a closer look at TEKgroup’s data you notice that the findings were actually more in line with PRWeek’s findings than first expected.  Only 7% of journalists indicated yes, they are definitely open to receiving news via company tweets, with 31% indicating that they would possibly receive news via company tweets. Obviously the question should have been posed a bit better, but the results make more sense when you actually look at the lack of journalists willing to answer yes soundly.

In addition, when TEKgroup slightly tweaked the question to ask if journalists were open to receiving “pitches” via Twitter, only 5% stated yes and 28% indicated they may, possibly be.

The drop-off wasn’t as sharp as what PRWeek found when they looked at journalists’ receptiveness to gaining information via social networks / platforms (Twitter, Facebook, etc), versus being pitched on one. While 20% of PRWeek’s respondents indicated they find information and do research on social networks / platforms, only 1% of the journalists they polled wished to be pitched via social networks / platforms.

TEKgroup’s survey also found that 70% of journalists want companies to provide links to all their social media profiles, handles and pages within their online newsroom – despite the fact that only 15% of the journalists they surveyed indicated that they visited Facebook, MySpace or YouTube specifically for company news.

So while it seems that journalists are growing more interest in keeping tabs on companies (and some of their news) via social networks / platforms, don’t expect too many of them to be interested in receiving tweets that bear a resemblance to “pitches” (albeit the 140 character variety) in the near future.

Entry Filed under: Facebook,Mainstream media,Public relations,Social Media,Twitter