Millennial journalists embracing social media as a news tool

Interesting stats MediaPost pulled from a study presented at the Society for New Communications Research Symposium on Nov. 14, 2008:

• 87% of 18-29 year-olds believe bloggers have become important opinion-shapers, versus 60% of 50-64 year-olds
• 87% of 18-29 year-olds confirm that new media and communications enhances the relationship with their audience, versus 42% of 50-64 year-olds
• 48% of all respondents use LinkedIn, and 45% use Facebook to assist in reporting
• 68% of all respondents use blogs to keep up on issues or topics of interest
• 86% of all respondents use company websites, 71% use Wikipedia, and 46% use blogs to research an individual organization

It is a fairly small survey of 160 journalists but it is continuing if you'd like to participate. See the PowerPoint of the symposium presentation on the study. The key finding is, duh!,  "Millennial Generation" journalists are comfortable with social media and have adopted it as a tool for newsgathering and as a source for news.

But for PR folks pitching a story to journalists, email, phone and face-to-face meetings are still tops.