A study conducted with 290 French journalists on social media in 2016, between March 1st and April 15th has been released, revealing that a high percentage of French journalists rely heavily on social media. A huge 91% of respondents use social media and over half, 56% said they could not do without social media.
The study revealed that many believe social media is a new indicator for journalists, with 57% using it to measure content effectiveness, whilst 32% of journalists use social media daily to monitor discussions linked to publications.
The two main social media sites used are Facebook to publish and promote articles, and Twitter to research information. It is clear that social media has transformed journalism in France, with 65% considering social media as deeply changing journalism; making it no surprise that the young generation aged between 18 and 27 years old are the main age bracket using social media for more than 4 hours per day.
This obvious dependency on social media, can be a shock to some, especially journalists within the B2B tech industry. In general, B2B tech professionals will only talk to around 35% of journalists through social media, as many others prefer the almost traditional routes of phone calls or emails.
Although it is good to see French journalists are embracing the digital age, the approach we take with general journalists in the B2B Tech sector suggests other journalists won’t be joining them anytime soon.
To take a look at the report in full, click here.