UK Social Journalism Survey 2011

Our latest social journalism survey, conducted in June and July of this year in conjunction with Canterbury Christ Church University, represents our latest attempt to understand the uses and perceptions of social media among journalists in European countries.

The UK leg of the survey, published today, examines patterns of social media usage among UK journalists. Our 2010 survey provides a useful benchmark for developments, particularly when assessing the pervasiveness of social media use among journalists surveyed (regular use now at 97%, up from 74% last year) and the resilience of traditional forms of PR-journalist communication (the use of press releases and face-to-face meetings remains more or less unchanged from last year).

But for me things get really interesting in the respondents’ take on social technology’s impact on journalistic output and values. From the report:

Most journalists cautiously agreed that social media encourages opinion-oriented journalism – 17% strongly agreed and 69% somewhat agreed. Opinions also varied about whether social media encourages ‘soft’ news as opposed to ‘hard’ news, although journalists were more likely to agree than disagree. Interestingly, there was a notable difference on this issue between journalists in large organisations (44% agree) and freelance journalists (57% agree).

More to come on this blog. You can download the social journalism survey executive summary report here and check out the social journalism press release here.