A new survey by Brodeur and MarketWire, shows that 75% of journalists use blogs to get ideas for stories.
Journalists may not comment but they are reading…in fact, four in five say they read read blogs at least two to three times a week. Almost 30% of journalists in the survey say they have their own blog.
Journalists consult blogs for story ideas, angles and insights:
- Over 75% of reporters see blogs as helpful in giving them story ideas, story angles and insight into the tone of an issue.
- 70% of reporters check a blog list on a regular basis.
- 21% of reporters spend over an hour per day reading blogs.
- 57% of reporters read blogs at least two to three times a week.
Journalists are getting more savvy not only utilizing social media, but as participants:
- 16% have their own social networking page.
- 48% say they are “lurkers” – in that they read but rarely comment on blogs.
The survey was conducted among a random sample of reporters and editors. There looks to be 177 participants (here is a link to the PDF file of the survey). If you want to increase your visibility or PR, starting a blog is worth the investment.
Not only do blogs provide good visibility for journalists, a blog will increase your search engine visibility (recent numbers showed that about 75% of people find your business through a search engine). For that reason, I think new businesses should launch a blog along with their web site. As for me, I found this story on Twitter (thanks Scoble).
