Social media and journalism study 2013 - Finland

The 3rd annual Social Journalism Study, conducted by Cision and Canterbury Christ Church University, is charting the changes of how journalists and media professionals use social media for their work and in their communication with PR professionals. Since 2012 respondents show an increasing use of social media but in 2013 it is more evenly spread across all tools and the professional tasks journalists undertake in their work. Generally, views about social media are more positive and the perceived barriers are less.
Unique to our research is the identification of ‘the Social Suspects’, a typology which groups journalists into five categories: Architects, Hunters, Observers, Promoters and Sceptics. These distinctive groups share certain behaviours and attitudes towards social media. In this report, we explore how Finnish journalists use social media, what factors influence their use, the knowledge they feel they have of the tools, and their attitudes about the impacts of social media on their working practices and their profession. This year’s study also looks at the role of social media in how PR practitioners and journalists communicate.