Julie Posetti has published her results from a study of how journalists are using Twitter. Her findings are very interesting, and can be found in a two part series on MediaShift.

Part 1
Part 2

Some take-aways from Part 1, on how Journalists are using Twitter:

• Journalists are using Twitter to broadcast links to their work.
• Some manage news organization Twitter accounts.
• Journalists are using Twitter to “live-cast” stories.
• Some are using it to crowd source contacts.
• Marketing tool.
• Subvert PR and press releases.

Part 2 explores the issue of how journalists are balancing their personal and professional lives on Twitter.

The audio component of this story can be found here.

By Ryan Boulanger

Part Two: Applying These Lessons
Seattle’s recent loss of one of its oldest print newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, may have been a surprise to some people but it’s a trend that’s happening to major newspapers across the country.

As a result of our survey, we found that 85 percent of current college-aged students get most of their news from on-line sources – compared to 13 percent that rely on newspapers. Print newspapers have on-line counterparts that relay their content to a greater audience, using their branded name to gain trust on the Web.

Our survey also found that 88 percent of college-aged students use traditional news websites – a descendant of print newspapers – as their main source of on-line news. Blogs and other alternative news websites represented the remaining 12 percent.

Traditional news sites are trusted by far more people than other news sites, but our information also suggests that alternative news websites can be trusted, sometimes even preferred, by people within this demographic.

Most on-line newspapers currently enjoy this strong advantage of trust over alternative news sites but preferences can change over time. Newspapers need to continue covering the stories their readers deem important throughout their coverage area.

But print newspapers across the country have too much overheadto support their on-line format. Profits from print advertising are dwindling and on-line advertising can only generate a small fraction of the revenue once enjoyed by print. The U.S. newspaper industry lost $7.5 billion in advertising revenues for 2008. This model is clearly not sustainable and deep cuts are being made at newspapers across the country.

As newspapers cut their staff, they produce less content and gaps in their coverage start to emerge.  Adam Klawonn started The Zonie Report in May 2006 to cover the gaps that resulted from cuts at The Arizona Republic.

Independent journalists and alternative news sites can fill these gaps, making them into a niche market. Beat blogs are already doing this in some coverage areas, like the West Seattle Blog, and competing with traditional news sites for advertising dollars.

Consumer trust in these areas will shift toward alternative news sites as they become known and accurate sources of news. Newspapers need to prepare themselves for this shift and remain competitive. An audience can judge quality and credibility for themselves – attacking alternative media in editorials is completely unnecessary.

Newspapers need to stop reducing their content and hold their ground within their coverage areas. Their reputation for covering news in that area will become increasingly jeopardized as they continue to make cuts.

A new revenue model needs to be introduced for newspapers to regain their footing and maintain control of the news industry. Unfortunately, most of them are stuck in a situation where a very small percentage of their audience reads printed content, but a significant portion of their advertising revenue comes from their print edition. A sustainable on-line revenue model is both necessary and urgent for the news industry to survive.

By the year 2020, if on-line journalism still doesn’t have a promising source of revenue, then journalists will no longer be asking “where’s my paycheck”? They’ll have no choice but to look elsewhere for a main source of income.

You want to keep track of developments in the future of news? Are you looking for new journalistic business models? Want to see who is fighting to keep Journalism alive? Or do you need some helpful tips on digital journalism?

Check out our recommendations for Twitter follows in Digital Journalism and the Future of News!

The typical day in the life of a University of Washington Communications student:

-Meeting with advisers
-Internship
-Current job
-Spending hours studying for their 300/400 level classes

It seems like they don’t have the opportunity to stop. Moving ever so swiftly, I managed to sit down with a current communications student at the University of Washington.

For most communications students, their careers could lie anywhere from advertising, human resources, to digital media. Their discipline gives them a sense of flexibility - this could be their best friend or worst enemy. And with the pace of developing technologies, their prospective jobs seem to be in jeopardy.

New technologies could potentially invade the flexibility of having a degree in communications. This can be seen in the sense that it demands the Communication major to be more concrete in certain technological skills, in which is not required at the University of Washington Communication program.

However, when asked, Mimi Newman, a sophomore in UW’s Communication department, said she doesn’t seem to think her career goals lay in troubled waters. “To be honest, I believe that new technologies can benefit us more than harm us,” said Newman. And she may have a point. Stable global economies have invested more so in online advertising than the traditional routes of the past.

It was projected that in the year 2008, China’s investment in online advertising grew an astronomical 50% - $731 million this year to $1.79 billion in 2008, according to Deutsche Bank. “Online advertising has the ability to give us more than enough income if navigated correctly,” Newman said.

Despite the inability of being placed in the perfect career, the beauty of the Communication major is that it has the ability to transcend. And the students in this discipline understand the need to adapt and participate in the pace of societal technological development and mutual shaping.

The audio component of this story can be found here.

Research objectives and a link to the online survey can be found here.

Written By Adam Eucker and Reisha Abolofia

Part One: The Survey

Media is currently undergoing a sweeping transformation.  Due to rapid technological advancements, evolving consumer preferences and a struggling economy, journalists are left asking, “Where is my paycheck?”

To investigate how journalists may earn a living in the future, we decided that the first step is to study an important and emerging demographic: current college-aged students.  This generation of 18 to 24-year-olds can be considered the first generation to have used a computer their entire lives, basically growing up as the Internet established itself as one of the most significant forces on the globe.

To assess how this age group is consuming media and utilizing social networking sites, four students of Communications 466 – Digital Journalism created a poll and linked to it on their personal Twitter and Facebook pages.  For the results, 54 people responded to the poll, with 41 of them being in the 18 to 24-year-old demographic.

The survey consisted of basic questions focusing on media consumption.  The questions included which sources consumers choose when looking for news and how often consumers use social networking and micro-blogging sites.  Our findings are similar to other surveys and consumer data focusing on the same topics.

Respondents were first asked “Where do you get your news and how often”? A matrix allowed participants to rate their level of consumption in four categories: newspapers, TV news, radio or on-line – by specifying either never, rarely, sometimes, usually or always. Results show that nearly 13 percent of respondents usually or always consume news from newspapers, compared to 85 percent who usually or always receive news from an on-line source.

The results among young people reading the newspaper correspond with the findings by Thomas S. Patterson in his article for Television Quarterly.  In his research, Patterson estimates that about 1 in 5 adults is reasonably close with a newspaper everyday - a figure that is 1 in 12 for young adults and 1 in 20 for teens.

Respondents were then asked “What is your primary on-line news source?” and given four options: a traditional news source, a blog, a micro-blog, or no on-line news source. The majority—88 percent—consumes on-line news from a traditional news website, such as Seattletimes.com.

When asked “How often do you use the following social networking sites?” (Facebook, MySpace and Twitter) 92 percent answered to using Facebook often, and only one respondent answered to not having an account. Only six percent of respondents use Twitter often and 54 percent don’t have an account.  According to information from Alexa.com, a web trafficking and information site, 18 to 24-year-olds on Facebook are considered overrepresented compared to the general Internet population. The audience for Twitter among 18 to 24-year-olds is similar or slightly underrepresented to the general Internet population.

We also asked “Would you care if all physical newspapers disappeared tomorrow?” and 70 percent of respondents answered yes.  Johnny Banchero, a 21-year-old UW student who took the quiz, said, “No one from our generation is subscribing anymore because it’s not what we use to get our news but there’s so much history in America behind the newspaper.”  It is an interesting notion that college-aged students, who do not actively rely on the newspaper, care so strongly about its survival and understand its important role in society.

David Folkenflik, a reporter for NPR, wrote an article imagining what would happen to a typical American city if the newspaper completely disappeared.  He examined Hartford, Conn. and pointed out how the community would suffer without the paper.  The Hartford Courant is one of the nation’s oldest newspapers - older than the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

In recent months, the paper uncovered a scandal involving Hartford’s mayor, who was recently indicted on bribery charges.  It has also uncovered polluters in the region and the exposed the deployment of mentally-ill troops to Iraq.

This is just one example of a newspaper serving a vital role in its community.  Young people recognize the important role that newspapers play in society, but now news organizations must figure out how to effectively connect with this newer demographic.

Our survey and all the research focusing on this emerging audience only tell part of the story.  What do these results mean for journalists who are looking for ways to earn a living in the future?  The second half of our story holds some of the possible conclusions.

The audio component of this story can be found here.

The findings and analysis of this survey can be found here.

This is an interesting poll that was conducted by Reisha Abolofia, Michelle Vu, Ryan Boulanger and Adam Eucker. Our survey’s main objective was to grasp exactly where our age demographic’s feelings are at regarding print and on-line news media.

We pulled surveyors through our Facebook statuses and Twitter updates. It is imperative to have clear assessments of our generation’s news habits. Their interest in news will have an astounding effect on the economic vitality of news organizations and thus their ability to invest in quality journalism.

A few decades ago, adolescent Americans were heavy consumers of news. More than half of the adults under 30 years of age were regular consumers of their daily newspaper. “The notion is that no young person cares about news, and that is wrong,” says Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. “They’re moving to a different distribution system.”

Similar to our survey results, there was a preference for on-line news media as a primary source. However, with the distribution system provided by the Internet, reliable content is sometimes hard to distinguish from the myriad of outlets available.

The Internet is changing how people access media. Most news organizations are having trouble adapting to the changes that are taking place. Print newspapers have dominated news media for centuries but now people want their news faster than a daily newspaper can offer.

Johnny Banchero is a junior at the University of Washington and he’s concerned for the future of print newspapers:
“I completely understand where they’re coming from, where everybody’s moving to online formats and no one our age is subscribing anymore, just because it’s not what they use to get their news but there’s so much history in America behind the newspaper. I do personally enjoy the newspaper and having something physically in your hands.”

There are other challenges to the traditional news model that have reigned supreme for so long. Now anyone with a camera and access to the Internet can be a journalist. News organizations must rely on their reputation for credibility.

Stephen Coyle is a freshman at UW and he prefers traditional news sites:
“Because you feel like you trust them, they’ve been around for that long… you know… if you go to just some random website you don’t know if you can trust the quality.”

But the gap is closing between alternative news sites and traditional media. Blogs have become a trusted source for news in many communities.

Jennifer Ladd lives in Ballard and she gets most of her news from a blog:
“The first website I check in the morning is myballard.com. Sure they don’t have as much money as the Times or P.I. but their coverage is easily just as good, if not better.”

News sources are shifting toward the preferences of an emerging demographic. Today’s college students have spent their entire life by a computer. They want two things from Internet: immediacy and interconnectedness. This means that anyone providing news in the future has to strive to be the first to tell a story and include their audience in the process. Adapting to these demands doesn’t guarantee survival but refusing to do so will surely lead to failure.

Seattle Coast Guard spokesman, Paul Roszkowski, shares how the Thirteenth District is utilizing new technologies as we enter a new future of journalism.

In Communications 466 – Digital Journalism, we’ve been focusing on new technologies for journalists in the civilian world. Here I’m shifting the focus to technologies being used by our armed forces –particularly the Thirteenth Coast Guard District, a significant component of the Department of Homeland Security.

Based on my interview with Coast Guard spokesman Paul Roszkowski, the Thirteenth District regularly engages in tools like Blogger, Flickr, Youtube and Twitter to tell their story.

By story, Paul means relaying and emphasizing messages of their mission to serve and protect American citizens and the United States’ navigable waterways.  These tools allow them to interact with the Coast Guard community, supporters of the armed forces and keep in touch with mainstream media.

So far, Paul has noticed the Coast Guard has received positive feedback from the public about their presence across the multiple social media technologies.  When asked how effective its been managing all these accounts, he said, “We’re not talking huge numbers, but we are seeing one or two more people daily [following their updates and viewing their sites].”

By:  Sarah Wilhelm

Robert McClure is Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism, has covered environmental news since the late 1980s and has been working in Seattle since 1999.  He covered groundbreaking stories and ran a popular blog at the Seattle P-I until the paper halted it’s print edition. Since then, he’s been working with a team of accomplished journalists on a project called Investigate West.  Investigate West (website coming soon) is a nonprofit start-up devoted to Web 2.0 investigative and narrative journalism in the West. It’s funded by members, media partners and major donors.

As the Director of the Master of Communication in Digital Media program at the University of Washington, Hanson Hosein is well aware of the technological changes that uprooting the values of traditional journalism.  He’s worked as a solo broadcaster around the world for MSNBC.com.  Through his company HRH Media, Inc. he’s produced the award winning films, Independent America: The Two Lane Search for Mom and Pop, and Independent America: Rising from Ruins.

By: Scott Nordquist

Courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/3570379944/sizes/o/

There is no doubt that there is an ability for on-line content to make adequate, and in rare cases, more than adequate revenue. However, on-line media space requires precise and strategic planning.

In the case of advertising and revenue, the success of on-line social media has catapulted its own independent success and has segued to many other parent sites as well. As demonstrated in the info-graphic above, Twitter has parented many other successful subsidiaries.

While the ability of news content to be freely available on-line scares the the typical media employee, the info-graphic above demonstrates on-line content more as an opportunity than a restraint.

The developmental pace of such on-line social media tools has created dependent websites that are able to generate revenue on their own. In this case, Twitter has allowed a space for businesses to have free on-line advertising through consistent tweeting.

Many bloggers have predicted that in the near future there will be paid tweeters and bloggers. However, the conflicting issue for on-line versus print revenue is the mere fact that print involves more key players to be paid - a trend that I believe is the key to success for the on-line social media space.