Judy Gombita, a public relations pro up in Toronto, pointed me toward a new survey from Ketchum PR and the Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center at USC. It's called Media Myths and Realities: A Public of One. The title refers to a key finding that shows the increasing role of individuals in communications.
The change has impact on those of us in marketing and public relations, since the media is still the primary means of communicating our messages to the people we strive to reach.
Not surprisingly, the media most of us rely on and consider most credible are still network TV news (65%), newspapers (62%), and local TV news (61%). Search engines were also ranked high for both usage (60%) and credibility.
Word-of-mouth is seen as key form of communications by 43% (from friends and family) and 20% (from co-workers) of the general population. Celebrity endorsements have impact with only 9% of the public, and expert spokespersons impact about 6%. "Influencers" (see an earlier post on this topic) seem to rely on word-of-mouth sources more, with family and friends at 61%, advice from co-workers at 41% and celebrity endorsers at 20%. (The difference of impact by celebrity endorsers on the general population (9%) and the so-called influencers (20%) tells me something about the reliability of "influencers.")
Also not surprising is that new media are gaining ground with older users. It's not just the 20-somethings who blog (I'm certainly not even close to that age demo), use networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, or view content on YouTube. The survey shows that 17% of Americans in the 55-64 age group are blogging, compared with 7% a year ago. Seventy-two percent of us use search engines, vs. 54% in 2006.
The report shows media usage down in just about all categories, which I
would guess is due to the proliferation of media channels among which we divide our time and attention.
With all that proliferation comes the individual's increasing ability to fine-tune what sort of information he or she wants. Business news? The Wall Street Journal or WSJournal.com, your local paper's business section, Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, CNBC or FOX Business News, Nightly Business Report on PBS, Bloomberg Business Radio, business channels on XM and Sirius satellite radio, etc., etc. Celebrity news? ET, Access Hollywood, People Magazine, Inside Entertainment, The Star, TMZ.com and on and on. You get the picture.
It continues to be a growing and more complex challenge for advertisers, media planners, p.r. pros and others who look to get our information out there.
Painting: Confusion, by Mary Sellen
