Social Media Impact on Public Relations and News | INFOGRAPHIC

We all know social media has had a massive impact on PR and News, but until now I hadn’t seen this impact packaged in a way that truly captures the scale. Social media impact  has been widely reported on, discussed and analyzed over the years. Often these studies focus on how social media impacts kids/students, government, the entertainment industry, business and everything in between. As PR pros each and every one of us should be keenly aware of social media impact on news as it has a direct impact on PR.
A recent infographic, Impact of Social Media on News, published by ING, helps put social media impact into context every PR pro will appreciate. To complete this infographic, ING initiated an international study to analyze social media impact on PR professionals and journalists. The study looks to identify how social media has influenced news and news distribution.

Key Social Media Impact Findings:

• Reliability:
  • Despite low level of reliability, 50% of journalists identify social media as “main source of information” Tweet This!
• Fact Checking
  • 52% of PR pros find that journalists are less likely to contact them to fact check since the emergence of social media Tweet This!
• Rules of Journalism
  • 60% of journalists report that they feel less bound by traditional rules of journalism when using social media Tweet This!
  • 59% of journalists say they feel free to share their personal opinions on social media Tweet This!
• Importance to a journalist’s daily life:
  • 70% of journalists report that social media is important to their daily performance Tweet This!
  • 68% of journalists say they can not operate without social media Tweet This!

And, most staggering of all facts, 56% of journalist report that they feel traditional media has become less important than social media. For more information, and to enjoy a fantastic infographic, see below.