Top-Line Findings

TEKGROUP International and Western Kentucky University’s

School of Journalism & Broadcasting

2010 Social Media News Survey

Final results of a social media news survey conducted by TEKGROUP International
and Associate Professor Ken Payne of Western Kentucky University seem to
underscore the importance of the online newsroom to corporate communicators
and amplify the need for a comprehensive social media news strategy when
targeting or influencing key constituents in the social media space. The survey -
which specifically measured acceptance, use, and attitudes of social media tools to
follow, share, and post news and information – garnered 545 responses from April
15 – May 30, 2010. The study is especially intriguing in its sampling methodology as
social media tools were used exclusively to solicit survey participation.

Top-Line Findings

 As reported in other social media surveys, respondents indicated they are

using social media tools habitually with almost 90% saying they use Twitter,
Facebook, and blogs on a daily basis to follow/monitor news and information.
Slightly less said they use the tools to share/recommend daily news and
information (70%), with fewer still writing/posting news and information
using social media tools (60%).

 The majority of the survey sample indicated they have been using social
media tools for more than 5 years (27.8%) with more than 50% indicating
upwards of 3 years of social media tool experience. Roughly 69% say they
make use of social media tools between 1 and 4 hours per day, slightly more
from home (88%) than from work (68%).

 A telling indicator for the corporate world, nearly 75% of the survey sample
reported sometimes (31%), very often (27.5%), or all the time (15.5%) use
of the venerable corporate website when engaged in following, sharing, or
posting news and information. Responses for use of press releases for the
same tasks were nearly identical with fewer than 10% of the respondents
saying they never reference press releases when following, sharing, or
posting news and information.

 Also on the corporate plate, almost 75% of survey respondents indicated

they frequently (32%) or sometimes (42%) visit a corporate web site after
learning of a news story through social media channels with roughly half of
all respondents saying they sometimes (32%) or frequently (18%) use social
media tools to fact-check corporate websites and press releases.

 For those actively participating in social media newsgathering and

distribution, it seems social media is viewed about the same (41%) as
traditional news sources for reliability and accuracy with only 10% of
respondents labeling social media as much less reliable or accurate.
  However, when it comes to timeliness there is no contest with almost 73% of
respondents indicating that news gathered via social media sources is much
more (42%) or slightly more (31%) timely than traditional news sources.

 How important have social media tools become for the news and information
industry? Survey respondents see this as a no-brainer with more than 90%
indicating high importance for following/monitoring news, 94% for
sharing/recommending news, and 89% for posting/writing news and
information.

 The most popular social media tools for tracking news and information seem
to be Twitter (60%), followed closely by Facebook (53%), with respondents
indicating they use these tools all the time. Surprisingly, blogs (24%) and
sharing sites such as Flickr and YouTube (18%) are not used regularly for
social news tasks.

 Even in social media circles, search remains king with nearly 50% of
respondents indicating they start their news following/monitoring process
on a search engine (Google, Yahoo Search, Bing). However, slightly more than
21% indicate they are starting their news gathering process by directly
accessing a social media site such as Twitter or Facebook. Roughly the same
number say they are starting on traditional news web sites such as NYT.com,
CNN.com, or BBCClick.com.

 Twitter (45.55) and Facebook (44.1%) emerged as methods-of-choice for

spreading or distributing breaking news after initial awareness with word-
of-mouth (45.2) ending up a close second to a timely Tweet. This finding
provides communicators’ strong support for using social media to increase
the reach of awareness campaigns.

Social Media Habits

Survey respondents were asked to quantify their social media use habits and, not
surprisingly given the survey sample, this group is connected in big numbers. The
majority of the survey sample indicated they have been using social media tools for
more than 5 years (27.8%) with more than 50% indicating upwards of 3 years of
social media tool experience. Roughly 69% say they make use of social media tools
between 1 and 4 hours per day, slightly more from home (88%) than from work
(68%).

While support for social media favorites such as Facebook and Twitter were strong
– 78% of respondents indicating 50+ Facebook friends and 67% of respondents
indicating 50+ Twitter feeds followed – the relative weakness of MySpace, YouTube,
and blogs as a news and information tool in general may be cause for concern
among strategic communicators. Nearly 78% of survey respondents say they
literally have nothing to do with MySpace, with the majority of respondents
indicating they follow (50%) or post to (55%) between only 1 and 10 blogs. Support
for YouTube as a news and information tool of choice trends surprising low as well
with this group with almost half the respondents saying they have never posted a
video to the service, 85% indicating less than 10 posts.
Social Media News Interest

When we asked respondents what their interests were in their use of blogs, there
was a wide array of responses. Local/National/International news interests made
up nearly 50% of the total interest with Sports and Entertainment news combining
for almost 30% of the total interest. Also of particular note are the nearly 20% of
respondents that do not use blogs to follow, share or post news.

When survey respondents were asked their interests in using Twitter the results
showed a variety of popular interests including Local/National/International news
totaling nearly 60% of the total interest. Sports and Entertainment interest was a
combined 19%. One noticeable comparison to people’s use of blogs vs. Twitter for
news can be seen in the difference between blogs (17%) and Twitter (10%) of
people that do not use these for following or sharing breaking news.

When asked about interests in using Facebook to follow, share or post news,
respondents totaled just more than 50% for Local/National/International news.
Sports and Entertainment interests garnered 33% of respondents interests with
20% saying they do not use Facebook to follow, share or post news.
Social Media Attitudes

Quite possibly the most telling finding to emerge from the survey was the measure
of respondent’s attitudes toward the reliability, accuracy, and timeliness of news
and information gathered through social media sources as opposed to traditional
sources. Predictably, timeliness of social media tools was a distinct advantage,
according to our social media mavens, with 72% indicating that news gathered
through social media channels was either slightly (30.5%) or much more (42.1%)
timely than traditional news outlets.

Not so predictable was respondent’s attitudes toward accuracy and reliability of

news gathered using social media tools. More than 40% rate news gathered via
social media sources as roughly the same as traditional sources in terms of
reliability and accuracy. In fact, less than 10% rate the same variables as much less
reliable or accurate, with a greater number saying social media new is slightly more
reliable (13%) and accurate (12%).

Finally, the importance of social media as a news gathering and distribution

platform is not lost on our respondents with more than 90% attributing a somewhat
high, or high level of importance to social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube and blogs for following, sharing, and posting news and information.
Use of Social Media Tools

As mentioned in an earlier section, our survey sample was keen on using social
media tools as a newsgathering and distribution method. This became even more
evident when we asked our respondents to quantify their use of social media tools
for these specific tasks during the past 6 months. Trending with earlier findings,
almost 90% of our respondents indicated they use social media tools for follow or
monitor news and information on a daily basis; around 70% indicate they use social
media tools to share or recommend news on a daily basis; and about 60% say they
use social media tools to write or post news and information on a daily basis.

What was not anticipated was the widespread use of these tools for following a
breaking news story with almost 70% citing the use of social media tools for this
purpose. Equally interesting was the use of social media tools for fact-checking
information with nearly half of our respondents indicating social media tool use for
this task.

Perhaps of greatest importance to corporate communicators was the high degree of

reliance among this group on corporate web sites and press releases for monitoring,
sharing, and posting news and information. Nearly 75% of the survey sample
reported sometimes (31%), very often (27.5%), or all the time (15.5%) use of the
venerable corporate website when engaged in these tasks. Responses for use of
press releases for the same tasks were nearly identical.

Moreover, nearly 75% of survey respondents indicate they sometimes or frequently

visit a corporate web site after learning of a news story through social media
channels.

Nearly half of survey respondents indicate they begin their search for news and
information on a search engine such as Google – no surprise there. It seems,
however, that social media tools (22.2%) edge out tradition news sites (21.8%) as
the second most popular starting place for newsgathering activities.

Finally, Twitter seems to be the weapon of choice for survey respondents with 60%
indicating all-the-time use of the Internet upstart for news and information related
tasks. Facebook was a close second at roughly 55% all-the-time use. Supporting
previous finding, blogs (24%) and YouTube (17%) were used sparingly by this
sample group for news related activities.
Information Sources

Survey respondents were asked to indicate their sources of news and information
while following, sharing, and posting. Not surprisingly, CNN.com, NYT.com,
ESPN.com and the BBC were the traditional sources most cited by the social media
sample.

What might surprise some observers is the reliance amongst survey respondents on
social media sources for the tasks in question. More than 8 in 10 cite the use Twitter
and/or Facebook as a source of news and information when following, sharing or
posting – roughly twice that of NYT.com. In fact, it appears among avid social media
users Wikipedia is used more often than CNN.com as a source to follow, share, and
post news and information.
Event Recall/Distribution

This survey sought to identify the channels of communication most relevant for
frequent users of social media tools. To that end, respondents were asked to identify
the source of initial awareness to several national and international news stories of
the past year. Further, respondents were asked to identify their method of
distribution of the same news and information.

Haitian Earthquake

This question challenged respondents to identify their source of awareness of a

breaking international news item – the massive earthquake in Haiti. Here, results
were striking with Twitter (25.5%) and television (30.7%) running neck-and-neck
for the lead – an amazing race given Twitter’s rather shallow market penetration in
relation to television. Fold in Facebook and blogs and it’s a tie.

Lending support to earlier findings, Twitter (45.55) and Facebook (44.1%) remain a
strong method-of-choice for spreading breaking news after initial awareness with
word-of-mouth (45.2) ending up a close second to a feisty Tweet. This finding
provides communicators’ strong support for using social media to increase the
reach of awareness campaigns.
Michael Jackson

When asked to recall where they learned of a major breaking news story in the
entertainment world, just as many respondents chose social media (33%) as
television (32.7%) for initial awareness. This finding strengthens the notion of using
social media tools for initial distribution of breaking corporate news and
information.

Predictably, word-of-mouth surfaced as the dominant method of distribution for

news of Michael Jackson’s death as news mavens searched for answers to lingering
questions surrounding his demise. However, as noted in other similar situations,
Facebook and Twitter combine to outpace WOM for dominance in “spreadability.”
Super Bowl

Respondents were asked to recall where they initially learned of national events,
such as the winner of the 2010 Super Bowl. Television was the dominant player
here with almost 7 in 10 saying they heard of the victory on the tube – not
surprising given the nature of the event. However, what was interesting is that
Facebook (4.4%) and Twitter (4.1%) accounted for roughly the same news market
as newspapers (4.1%) in terms of initial awareness.

As a follow-on question to initial news awareness, respondents were asked to

identify the method or tool used to spread the information gathered about the 2010
Super Bowl winner. As anticipated, word-of-mouth (37.9%) remains a dominant
player in this area – a detail not lost on savvy marketers. However, nearly the same
amount identified Facebook (34%) and Twitter (28.9%) as a viable alternate to
facilitate the spread of national news, beating out mobile device (19.1%) and E-mail
(11.5%) by a wide margin.
Obama Election

Television was the clear winner when identifying the source of arguably the biggest
political news story of our lifetime – a surprising result given the Obama campaign’s
online strategy. However, much like the Super Bowl, Obama’s acceptance speech in
Chicago may have skewed respondent’s answer to this question.

Word-of-mouth and social media continue to dominate in terms of spreading

political news and information. But perhaps more interesting is the weakness of
blogs as several researchers have reported blogs as the dominant platform for
political news creation and distribution. It would seem blogs are truly on the wane
as a viable means of spreading awareness for an issue among regular social media
users.

Demographics

In congruence with several studies of social media acceptance and use, demographic
data submitted by our sample population revealed a distinct bias toward youth,
financial independence, and upward mobility.
 Most of the survey respondents had substantial education and financial
means with nearly 48% indicating they had achieved a 4-year college degree
and roughly 34% indicating education at the master’s level.

 Survey respondents reported levels of employments consistent with their

education with trained professional (23%), middle management (17%), and
self-employed/partner (13%) garnering the most recognition.

 Nearly 75% of the survey respondents were between the ages of 18-45 with
27% reporting income in excess of $100,00 per year.

 Surprisingly, gender for the survey sample was split rather evenly between
men (54%) and women (46%), suggesting social media acceptance and use
among women could be significantly stronger than other similar technology
acceptance and use surveys.

 Nearly half (47%) of the survey respondents were married, 36% single, with
the rest somewhere in between.
Methodology

This survey report was compiled from data collected from active social media users
during the period April 15 – May 30, 2010. The online survey - which specifically
measured acceptance, use, and attitudes of social media tools to follow, share, and
post news and information – garnered 545 responses (completion rate of 77.5%).
The sample methodology for this report is novel in that the researchers used social
media tools (Twitter and Facebook) exclusively to solicit participation in the survey.
Invitations to participate in the 2010 Social Media News Survey were randomly
posted on the Facebook pages (Wall) of the Internet’s top 50 media sites (Alexa
rankings). In addition, survey-specific Twitter accounts were generated and
“followers” of the same 50 media outlets were solicited for participation in the
survey. A more complete explanation of the survey methodology is planned for a
separate report.

About TEKGOURP International, Inc. – www.tekgroup.com

TEKGROUP International, Inc. is an award-winning Internet software and services
company that develops online newsrooms with social media integration, and e-
business software solutions. TEKgroup clients include AAA, Accenture, Carlson
Hotels Worldwide, CIGNA, Detroit Lions, Ford Motor Company, PRSA, Prudential
Financial, Starbucks, VMS, and Walgreens.

About Western Kentucky University’s

School of Journalism & Broadcasting – www.wku.edu/journalism

The School of Journalism & Broadcasting offers undergraduate majors in

advertising, broadcasting, mass communication, photojournalism, news/editorial
print journalism and public relations. The school holds as its ultimate aim the
encouragement of students to be active participants in today's society, and leaders
within their chosen fields. Ken Payne is an associate professor within the public
relations major and has research interests in the acceptance and use of emerging
technologies within the public relations sector.