An October 2009 national survey conducted by Cision and Don Bates of The George Washington University found that a majority of reporters and editors now depend on social media sources when researching their stories. Among the journalists surveyed, 89% said they turn to blogs for story research, 65% to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and 52% to microblogging services such as Twitter. The survey also found that 61% use Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia. 55% said that social media was “important” or “somewhat important” to journalists, but 84% said social media sources were “slightly less” or “much less” reliable than traditional media.
