Social networks seem to be making an impact in the world of journalism.
Mediabistro reports that 55 percent of journalists use social channels like Twitter and Facebook to find stories from known sources and that 43 percent verify existing stories using these tools.
This use of social media represents a shift in digital content creation and delivery, with press releases and analysts becoming less important in finding stories compared to social connections and corporate spokespeople. Twitter is not without danger for journalists, however. Several reporters have been fired for inappropriate or unfortunate tweets in the past.
Twitter’s use within journalism far exceeds Twitter’s adoption overall. The Pew Foundation found that as of February 2012, 15 percent of online adults use Twitter, and only 8 percent do so on a typical day.
Although the proportion of online adults who use Twitter on a typical day has doubled since May 2011 and quadrupled since 2010, the overall growth of Twitter users has continued at a steady rate in the last year.