By Chris Lee

The use of social media is now standard practice for journalists in the leading European economies, despite significant numbers expressing concern about the implications for the quality of their work, according to a major new survey by Cision, a provider of PR software and services, and Canterbury Christ Church University.

Despite 97 per cent of journalists regularly using social media  – albeit in conjunction with traditional communications channels, such as press releases and face-to-face meetings - most of those surveyed were worried about its accuracy and reliability, and more than half of respondents agreeing that social media encourages softer, more opinion-oriented news.

Increased use of social media in journalism

Cision reported that 74 per cent of UK journalists view social media as an “important tool” in their business in November 2010, so the latest figures indicate that across Europe journalists are more readily turning to social media.

In July’s study, Cision and Canterbury Christ Church University found that there is also an increase in the use of search engines (53 per cent) in story research compared to three years ago. Microblogs (70 per cent), Wikipedia (68 per cent) and other social networks, such as Facebook (67 per cent) were the most popular tools in story research.

Nine out of ten (89 per cent) of the 667 surveyed journalists most commonly use social media for publishing and distributing their work, but face-to-face contact (48 per cent) is still an important part of their day-to-day relationships with PR professionals.

Radio and online journalists fully embrace social media with 61 per cent actively blogging, whereas newspaper and magazine journalists are active to a lesser degree (51 per cent).

According to Dr Agnes Gulyas, Principal Lecturer at the Department of Media at Canterbury Christ Church University, the survey suggests that social media is having dramatic impacts on the industry where journalists now have access to a range of sources to help them research, verify, monitor and most of all publish their work.

“What is interesting is that social media are being used to supplement existing contacts and PR professionals but is not supplanting them. It's likely that whilst concerns over accuracy and reliability remain, social media will be part of the journalist’s tool kit rather than their only tool,” she said.

Changing professional practices

Kristine Pole, Senior Lecturer Marketing at Canterbury Christ Church University, added that she believes professional practices and values are changing because of social media which will have consequences on the social, political and economic roles of media in society.

“The speed and extent of the changes are truly remarkable, and one struggles to find many other technological developments which have had similar effect on the profession within such a short period of time,” she concluded. “The survey reveals that a great advantage of social media, and a reason for its popularity, is its flexibility and diversity of its potential use.”