Fizziology’s SocialDensity analytics quantify the value of a show beyond ratings.

Social media research company Fizziology is introducing SocialDensity, new analytics for buyers and sellers of television advertising to quantify the social impact of a show. A leader in theatrical film tracking of social media conversation since late 2009, Fizziology is now providing analysis and insights to television studios, networks, media agencies and brands.

Announced during television upfronts week, SocialDensity is designed to measure the social impact of programs and quantify the value of that impact. Because ratings are only one of the dimensions of value for advertisers and networks to consider, SocialDensity measures the influence, sharing and anticipation that can’t be assessed by ratings alone. Just as ratings services provide a numerical representation of viewership, SocialDensity provides ratings on a show’s volume and sentiment. This score can be used as a point of comparison with traditional ratings or combined to create a more holistic view of a program’s value.

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Hiring managers share why they screen with social media, and explain what they’re looking for in candidates’ profiles

With the pervasive, worldwide adoption of social media, job seekers know that the all-important first impression is potentially made well before the first interview. But just how many hiring managers browse social media profiles, and what type of information are they hunting?

Nearly two in five companies (37 percent) use social networking sites to research job candidates, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder. Of the employers who do not research candidates on social media, 15 percent said their company prohibits the practice. Eleven percent report they do not currently use social media to screen, but plan to start.

The nationwide survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive from February 9 to March 2, 2012, included more than 2,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes.

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Social media is showing signs of connecting with TV viewers as nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of U.S. consumers surveyed recall seeing social media symbols such as Facebook “Likes” while watching television, according to an Accenture study. Moreover, one in three viewers (33 percent) have interacted with social media after seeing a social media symbol on their TV screen.

Accenture conducted this survey of U.S. television viewers to better understand the public’s perception of social media symbols that appear during programming and how effective they are. The survey found that among the 1,000 viewers surveyed, the majority said they had noticed and were also familiar with how to interact with social media symbols while watching TV, including the Facebook “Like” symbol (42 percent), QR codes (28 percent), Twitter Hashtags (18 percent) and Shazam symbols (9 percent).

One-third (33 percent) of those surveyed said they had actually interacted with the symbols while watching TV by “liking” the TV program on Facebook (20 percent), scanning a QR code (11 percent), searching for the Hashtag on Twitter (7 percent) or scanning the Shazam symbol (5 percent).

“Social media and social networking are exploding across television screens as networks use social media to enable audiences to interact directly with related content for a richer viewing experience,” said Robin Murdoch, Accenture’s global Internet segment managing director. “This has huge revenue growth potential as social media applications build program viewer loyalty and drive online advertising opportunities.”

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Joe Attended the Final Rehearsal of Kathy Griffin’s new show debuting this week on Bravo

I’m a big fan of two-time Emmy winner Kathy Griffin and a long time ‘D-List’ devote, so you can imagine my delight when I learned about her new show on Bravo. After six seasons of ‘My Life on the D-List’ and 13 televised stand-up specials since 2005 (with two more to come later this year), the network premieres ‘Kathy’ this week (Thursdays, 10PM).

On Friday night I was in the audience for the final rehearsal of ‘Kathy’ at Sunset Bronson Studios in Hollywood. Joined by rising PR star Frank Fay (@frankfay), we enjoyed an intimate sneak peak at the new show and I have no doubt it will delight audiences and add to the growing legion of Kathy Griffin fans. I’m also certain that there will be a lot of bleeped out words, even for a late-night cable program. It was hilarious!

Bravo describes ‘Kathy’ as a one hour talk show where “the original gossip girl will have a whole hour to deflate the egos of everyone who is anyone and those who think they’re someone. ‘Kathy’ will showcase Griffin’s unique take on celebrities, co-workers, friends, politicians, and yes, even her own boxed-wine swilling mother, Maggie. She’ll be burning the last of her already very few bridges all while enforcing a clothing optional work environment.”

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The Pew Research Center released results from its local news survey today, which found that nearly three quarters of Americans (72%) report following local news closely “most of the time, whether or not something important is happening.” Local newspapers are by far the source they rely on for much of the local information they need.

One-third of local news enthusiasts (32%) say it would have a major impact on them if their local newspaper no longer existed, compared with just 19% of those less interested in local news. Most likely to report a major impact if their newspaper disappeared are local news followers age 40 and older (35%), though even among younger local news followers 26% say losing the local paper would have a major impact on them.

Local news enthusiasts are more likely than others to prefer newspapers for almost all of 16 topics that were asked about in a survey, with the exception of weather and breaking news. Three-in-ten or more local news enthusiasts prefer newspapers for following crime, local politics, community events, or arts and culture. About one-quarter prefer newspapers when seeking information about local schools, taxes, government activity, other local business, and housing issues. Two-in-ten primarily use newspapers for following restaurants, job openings, or local zoning issues.

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The second annual survey on “Use of Social Media and Mobile by Healthcare Professionals” released today by AMN Healthcare shows significant increase from the prior year’s results in use of social media by job-seeking healthcare professionals. According to the results of the 2011 survey, physicians, nurses, allied health professionals and pharmacists are networking with colleagues, tracking down job leads and applying for new positions at a significantly higher rate year-over-year.

The social and mobile media survey provides healthcare employers and leaders a snapshot of how clinicians have increased their use of social media and mobile devices for networking, job hunting and other career development activities.

As healthcare professionals continue to migrate to the larger social networking sites, opportunity exists for employers to move into social recruiting and sourcing of physicians, nurses, allied health professionals and pharmacists. Job candidates spent more time on social media sites and/or on mobile devices in 2011 and reported an increase in securing interviews, job offers and positions through the use of mobile job alerts.

Susan Salka, AMN’s president and chief executive officer, said, “We are not surprised that healthcare professionals continue to adopt social media as a mainstream method for job searching. Our innovative social and mobile methods have been successful in connecting job seekers to opportunities. We plan to continue reporting on significant changes and new, innovative opportunities affecting healthcare professionals and their careers.”

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Companies that fully embrace social engagement are experiencing four times greater business impact than less-engaged companies, according to a new study conducted by PulsePoint Group, a management and digital consulting firm, in collaboration with The Economist Intelligence Unit.

The research identifies six types of socially engaged enterprises and provides insights for organizations that want both to measure themselves against peers and find the right strategy for improving business and economic impact from their investments in social engagement.

“We believe this research is essential to assure companies that their investments in social engagement can be rewarded, provided they do it right,” said Paul Walker, a partner with Austin-based PulsePoint Group.

“We felt this was an opportune time to conduct this research and to focus on C-suite executives, because it is clear that there is a growing list of high-performing companies that are achieving superior economic returns from the use of social engagement with key internal and external constituents,” Walker continued. “We believe we are seeing an inflection point at which many organizations are moving from an experimentation phase with social technologies to achieving tangible and measurable returns on the investments. Most notably, they are achieving enterprise-level scale that is impacting marketing and sales efficiency, increased sales and market share, and speed to market with new products. ”

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More than six times as many big city governments reached citizens via Facebook in 2011 compared to 2009, while use of YouTube and Twitter grew fourfold and threefold respectively, a new study indicates.

Karen Mossberger, head of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s public administration graduate program, and Yonghong Wu, associate professor, analyzed and ranked the online interactivity, transparency and accessibility of the country’s 75 largest cities from March through May 2011. They used the data to compile the Civic Engagement Index, and compared it with their findings from a study they conducted in 2009.

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New Devices, Platforms Spur More News Consumption, But News Industry Loses Ground to Technology Rivals

A mounting body of evidence finds that the spread of mobile technology is adding to news consumption, strengthening the appeal of traditional news brands and even boosting reading of long-form journalism. But the evidence also shows that technology companies are strengthening their grip on who profits, according to the 2012 State of the News Mediareport by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

More than a quarter of Americans (27%) now get news on mobile devices, and for the vast majority, this is increasing news consumption, the report finds.  More than 80% of smartphone and tablet news consumers still get news on laptop or desktop computers. On mobile devices, news consumers also are more likely to go directly to a news site or use an app, rather than to rely on search — strengthening the bond with traditional news brands.

While technology may be adding to the appeal of traditional news, technology intermediaries are capturing even more of the digital revenue pie. In 2011, five technology giants generated 68% of all digital ad revenue, according to the market research firm eMarketer — and that does not include Amazon and Apple, which make their money from devices and downloads. By 2015, roughly one out of every five display ad dollars is expected to go to Facebook, according to the same source.

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The Scripps Howard Foundation has announced the winners of its annual Scripps Howard Awards, honoring the best work in the communications industry and journalism education in 2011.

Established in 1953, the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Awards competition is open to news organizations based in the U.S. and recognizes outstanding print, broadcast and online journalism in 15 categories. Two additional categories honor college journalism and mass communication educators for excellence in administration and teaching.

Winners will be honored April 26 at a dinner hosted by the Scripps Howard Foundation and its corporate founder, The E.W. Scripps Company, at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit. The winners will receive a total of $175,000 and distinctive trophies in the 17 categories.

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The display of a social media icon such as a Facebook “Like” button or a Twitter symbol on a shopping website increases the likelihood that consumers will buy some products, and reduces the likelihood that they will buy others. That is a key finding of a study conducted by the University of Miami School of Business Administration, Empirica Research, and StyleCaster Media Group as part of the State of Style Report.

The study found that consumers who saw a social media icon near a product that might embarrass them were significantly less likely to buy that product than those who saw the same product without the icon. On the other hand, consumers who viewed products they would be proud to show off were significantly more likely to buy than those who saw the same product with no such icon.

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If given the choice to go without one thing for Valentine’s Day, about 76% of social media savvy women choose to give up Facebook over sex with their spouse or partner, according to a new survey by SocialMoms.com, a network of 35,000 influential moms who are active in social media.

Results of the SocialMoms 2012 Valentine’s Day Survey revealed the need for human connection significantly outweighs those connections made via social media. The average SocialMoms.com member is ranked in the top .05% of all Twitter users by follower count, is five times more likely than the average woman in the US to carry a smartphone, and twice as likely to own a tablet computer.

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Coca-Cola, Amazon.com and Kraft Foods fill out top five, knocking off Johnson & Johnson, 3M and reputation veteran Berkshire Hathaway in the 2012 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient®, which measures corporate reputation for the most visible companies in the U.S.

It’s a complicated world for corporate America as consumer perceptions grow increasingly negative. With the erosion of trust in corporate leadership, consumers have higher expectations and are demanding more information and transparency from companies with which they plan to spend their hard-earned dollars.

Through its 13 years, the Harris Poll Reputation Quotient (RQ) study has shown that the reputations of traditional manufacturers have fared well, though their overall visibility as an industry has declined; it also has indicated a rising affinity for technology companies. Customer inclination towards strong leadership and technological innovation may be the catalyst, and it is within this environment that Apple reigns supreme. This year regional brick-and-mortar retailers are more prominent, and many once-leading American companies are noticeably absent from the 2012 Harris Poll RQ study, which asks the general public to measure the reputations of the 60 most visible companies in the country.

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An interesting new report was released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project today; researchers Lee Rainie, Amanda Lenhart and Aaron Smith investigated the tone of life on social networking sites with a national survey of online adults in the U.S.

According to the researchers, the overall social and emotional climate of social networking sites (SNS) is a very positive one where adult users get personal rewards and satisfactions at far higher levels than they encounter anti-social people or have ill consequences from their encounters. The study found:

• 85% of SNS-using adults say that their experience on the sites is that people are mostly kind, compared with 5% who say people they observe on the sites are mostly unkind and another 5% who say their answer depends on the situation.
• 68% of SNS users said they had an experience that made them feel good about themselves.
• 61% had experiences that made them feel closer to another person. (Many said they had both experiences.)
• 39% of SNS-using adults say they frequently see acts of generosity by other SNS users and another 36% say they sometimes see others behaving generously and helpfully. By comparison, 18% of SNS-using adults say they see helpful behavior “only once in a while” and 5% say they never see generosity exhibited by others on social networking sites.

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Most Facebook users receive more from their Facebook friends than they give, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center that for the first time combines server logs of Facebook activity with survey data to explore the structure of Facebook friendship networks and measures of social well-being.

These data were then matched with survey responses. And the new findings show that over a one-month period:

• 40% of Facebook users in our sample made a friend request, but 63% received at least one request
• Users in our sample pressed the like button next to friends’ content an average of 14 times, but had their content “liked” an average of 20 times
• Users sent 9 personal messages, but received 12
• 12% of users tagged a friend in a photo, but 35% were themselves tagged in a photo

“The explanation for this pattern is fascinating for a couple of reasons,” noted Prof. Keith Hampton, the lead author of the Pew Internet report, Why most Facebook users get more than they give. “First, it turns out there are segments of Facebook power users who contribute much more content than the typical user.

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Eighty-three percent of these companies are active with Facebook, Twitter, Blogging or other social media platforms.

The adoption of blogs by the Inc. 500 has increased by 5% over last year. Meanwhile, there has been explosive growth in the use of Twitter and Facebook by these companies. These were among the key findings of the latest benchmarking study conducted by Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Research Chair of the Society for New Communications Research.

The new report is the outcome of a statistically valid study of the 2010 Inc. 500 list. The study examined these institutions to quantify their adoption of social media tools. This is the fourth year that Barnes has tracked social media usage by this sector, and it is the only methodologically sound longitudinal study of its kind with every company in the Inc. 500 included.

The research shows that:
Social networking continues to lead the way:

• 71% have corporate Facebook pages
• 59% have corporate accounts on the relatively new Twitter
• 50% have a public facing corporate blog
• 44% say Facebook is the single most effective social networking platform they use

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Members of American Express’ New LinkedIn User Group, Business Knowledge Share, Can Get Free Tips, Strategies Directly From Insiders at the Top Social Media Platforms

Courtesy of American Express, small businesses now have a brand new resource available to help them grow and succeed through social media. Officially launching today, “Social Media Show + Tell” resides within American Express’ newly created Business Knowledge Share enhanced LinkedIn user group. Through a series of “show and tell” videos available to members, representatives from the most popular digital and social platforms — starting with Facebook — explain how their tools can have a formidable impact on small businesses and empower business owners to maximize the potential of the growing digital landscape.

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A study released today by the Pew Research Center shows the share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same time period.

The number of Americans owning at least one of these digital reading devices jumped from 18% in December to 29% in January.

These findings are striking because they come after a period from mid-2011 into the autumn in which there was not much change in the ownership of tablets and e-book readers. However, as the holiday gift-giving season approached, the marketplace for both devices dramatically shifted. In the tablet world, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble’s Nook Tablet were introduced at considerably cheaper prices than other tablets. In the e-book reader world, some versions of the Kindle and Nook and other readers fell well below $100.

About the Survey
These results come from ongoing surveys by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project aimed at tracking growth in the ownership of both devices. A pre-holiday survey was conducted among 2,986 people age 16 and older between November 16 and December 21, 2011,  and has a margin of error of +/- two percentage points. Telephone interviews for the pre-holiday survey were conducted in English and Spanish, by landline and cell phone. The post-holiday data come from the combined results of two surveys – one conducted January 5-8 among 1,000 adults age 18 and older and another conducted January 12-15 of 1,008 adults. The January surveys were conducted on landline and cell phones. They were conducted only in English. The combined surveys have a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points.

For more information visit http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/E-readers-and-tablets.aspx

KEY FINDINGS: Tablet and e-book reader ownership surge in the holiday gift-giving period

The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same time period.

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Brandman University’s online Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) program was one of fourteen named to the Honor Roll in the first-ever edition of Top Online Education Program rankings by U.S.News & World Report. Brandman University is the only institution in California to receive this distinction. In addition, Brandman’s School of Education earned the number ten spot among Faculty Credentials and Training for online graduate programs in Education.

Online bachelor’s degree programs as well as graduate online degree programs in business, engineering, nursing, education, and computer information technology were ranked. These rankings were created in response to today’s high demand for education provided in a flexible manner. With many distractions to detract from one’s schooling, online education has become increasingly popular due to its flexibility.

“U.S.News & World Report’s decision to include online programs in their rankings finally allows students the opportunity for an objective way to measure the quality of a program. These results represent the diligent efforts by the School of Business and Professional Studies and the School of Education and all of our Advising and One Stop staff who are dedicated to giving online students the same level of support as we provide to our on-campus students,” said Gary Brahm, Chancellor, Brandman University.

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The majority of teen social media users find online social networks to be “mostly kind” spaces, yet 88% have witnessed mean or cruel behavior there.

15% of social media-using teens say they have been the target of mean or cruel behavior on the sites.

Parents and peers serve as the most important influences and sources of advice on online safety issues.

As social media use has become pervasive in the lives of American teens, a new study by Pew finds that 69% of the teenagers who use social networking sites say their peers are mostly kind to one another on such sites. Still, 88% of these teens say they have witnessed people being mean and cruel to another person on the sites, and 15% report that they have been the target of mean or cruel behavior on social network sites.

Adult social network users are less likely to say they witness or experience this type of behavior, but they still report that it is prevalent: 69% of the adults who use social networking sites say they have seen people be mean and cruel to others on those sites.

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The Iowa Board of Regents has named Steven Leath the 15th president of Iowa State University today.

Leath’s appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2012.

“Dr. Leath has demonstrated extensive expertise in all areas that are critical to leading Iowa State University,” said Craig Lang, president of the Iowa Board of Regents. “His specific experience with university research and technology transfer, and their application to economic development, will be an invaluable resource in leading Iowa State and its many contributions to the state of Iowa, particularly for Iowa’s bioeconomy industry.”

Leath has been vice president for research and sponsored programs for the University of North Carolina system since 2007. He’s also interim vice president for academic planning. At North Carolina State, he held several positions, including associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the NC Agricultural Research Service. He also was a research leader and plant pathologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service; and an extension plant pathologist at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Leath helped develop the North Carolina Research Campus, a private-public venture that fosters advancements in biotechnology, nutrition and health.

He received three plant sciences degrees — a bachelor’s (1979) from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park; a master’s (1981) from the University of Delaware, Newark; and a doctorate in plant pathology (1984) from the University of Illinois.

Today the Nielsen Company released the Q3 – 2011 State of Social Media Report, a snapshot of the current social media landscape and audiences in the U.S. and other major markets. The report offers insights and provides some answers on exactly how powerful the influence of social media is on consumer behavior, both online and off.

The value of the time consumers spend online and on social networks and blogs continues to grow, the report shows, most visible through the influence on purchase decisions. For instance, 60 percent of people who use three or more digital means of research for product purchases learned about a specific brand or retailer from a social networking site.

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More than a quarter (28%) of all American adults use mobile or social location-based services of some kind. This includes anyone who takes part in one or more of the following activities:

28% of cell owners use phones to get directions or recommendations based on their current location—that works out to 23% of all adults.

A much smaller number (5% of cell owners, equaling 4% of all adults) use their phones to check in to locations using geosocial services such as Foursquare or Gowalla. Smartphone owners are especially likely to use these services on their phones, the study shows.

9% of internet users set up social media services such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn so that their location is automatically included in their posts on those services. That works out to 7% of all adults.

Taken together, 28% of U.S. adults do at least one of these activities either on a computer or using their mobile phones—and many users do several of them. These figures come from a new national survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

“Americans are not currently all that eager to share explicitly their location on social media sites, but they are taking advantage of their phones’ geolocation capabilities in other ways,” said Kathryn Zickuhr, Pew Internet Project research specialist and co-author of the report. “Smartphone owners are using their phones to get fast access to location-relevant information on-the-go.”

The report can be found online at http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Location/Overview.aspx

Fully 65% of adult internet users now say they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 61% one year ago, according to new data released by the Pew Research Center. This marks the first time in Pew Internet surveys that 50% of all adults use social networking sites. The frequency of social networking site usage among young adult internet users under age 30 was stable over the last year – 61% of online Americans in that age cohort now use social networking sites on a typical day, compared with 60% one year ago. However, among the Boomer-aged segment of internet users ages 50-64, social networking site usage on a typical day grew a significant 60% (from 20% to 32%).

“The graying of social networking sites continues, but the oldest users are still far less likely to be making regular use of these tools,” said Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and co-author of the report. “While seniors are testing the waters, many Baby Boomers are beginning to make a trip to the social media pool part of their daily routine.”

In a separate question, when social networking users were asked for one word to describe their experiences using social networking sites, “good” was the most common response (as seen in this word cloud). Overall, positive responses far outweighed the negative and neutral words that were associated with social networking sites (more than half of the respondents used positive terms). Users repeatedly described their experiences as “fun,” “great,” “interesting” and “convenient.” Less common were superlatives such as “astounding,” “necessity,” and “empowering.”

To read the report visit http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Networking-Sites/Overview.aspx

Based on a recent Ipsos poll of over 2,000 U.S. adults, Betty White stands out as America’s favorite and most trusted personality, and the one whose endorsement of a company would be most likely to drive business.

Denzel Washington and Sandra Bullock Next in Popularity
Betty White gets the highest favorability rating among 100 well-known personalities with 86% of those surveyed expressing a favorable opinion of her (vs. only 3% an unfavorable one). The next most popular celebrities include Denzel Washington (rated favorably by 85%) and Sandra Bullock (84%). Also in the top 10 are: Clint Eastwood (83%), Tom Hanks (81%), Harrison Ford (80%), Kate Middleton – now the Duchess of Cambridge – (79%), Morgan Freeman (also 79%), Will Smith (77%), and Johnny Depp (76%).

Most of the 100 personalities rated in the survey come from the world of entertainment, news and sports. Elected officials were deliberately excluded from the list.

Paris Hilton and Charlie Sheen Most Unpopular Celebrities.
At the other end of the spectrum, only two of the 100 celebrities asked about were viewed unfavorably by an outright majority of respondents: Paris Hilton (with 60% expressing an unfavorable opinion of her vs. only 12% a favorable one) and Charlie Sheen (52% vs. 22%). The next most unpopular personalities among those rated are: Britney Spears and Kanye West (each of whom is viewed unfavorably by 45%), Arnold Schwarzenegger (44%), Tiger Woods (42%), Kim Kardashian (38%), Mel Gibson (33%), Donald Trump (31%), and LeBron James (29%). (more…)

Gartner Survey Highlights Consumer Fatigue with Social Media

There are signs of maturity in the social media market, as some users in certain segments are showing “social media fatigue”, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. The survey reveals continued localization of usage, whereby certain country-specific social characteristics dictate preferences. However, large global brands such as Facebook are making headway in countries where they have not historically been strong. Gartner surveyed 6,295 respondents, between the ages of 13 and 74, in 11 developed and developing markets in December 2010 and January 2011. Consumers were asked about their use of and opinions about social media sites with the aim of examining usage trends and how enthusiastic users were about social media in general across a range of countries.

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CBS News debuted a new promo on the “Early Show” this morning.The 30-second spot poses the question: “What is original reporting?” and features short clips of the CBS news team — including “Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley and chief White House correspondent Norah O’Donnell — before flashing to archival clips of “60 Minutes,” as the voiceover says “It’s not like we invented original reporting on television. Oh, wait: yes, we did.”

Findings show college students feel helpless without technology—checking their devices at least every 10 minutes and foregoing face time for Facebook®

CourseSmart™ and Wakefield Research recently completed a survey of more than 500 currently enrolled college students, providing insight on how mobile devices and technology have changed the traditional college experience and the role technology plays in students’ academic abilities and success. Today’s students are truly carrying a digital backpack with nearly a quarter (27%) of students surveyed listing their laptop as the most important item in their bag—almost three times the number of students who chose textbooks (10%).

The findings further reveal that students are completely dependent on technologies—eReaders, Smartphones, laptops and more—to get through their daily college routine. Nearly all of the students surveyed (98%) own a digital device. And 38% of students surveyed said that they could not go more than 10 minutes without checking in with their tech device—about the same amount of time it takes to walk to class. Largely based on the fact that technology helps students learn more efficiently, 85% of students reported that technology saves them time when studying—an average of two hours per day.

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Earlier this year I conducted a study of Phoenix-area journalists regarding social media; among the findings was the heavy use of Facebook for information-gatering, searching for images and identifying potential sources for interviews. Facebook Journalist Program Managers Vadim Lavrusik and Betsy Cameron recently conducted a study looking at how people were engaging with Journalist Pages on Facebook, revealing more detailed insight into how journalists use Facebook to communicate.

“We hope that the findings, which focus on post dynamics, engagement and activity, will provide journalists with some best practices and insights on optimizing their engagement and distribution on Facebook to better reach their audiences,” they wrote in the blog sharing the results of that study. “We’ve also conducted research on how users are engaging with news organizations on Facebook and will be releasing the findings in the coming weeks. We hope that this serves as guide, but also a spark, for conversations about best practices in using Facebook as a journalist.”

Facebook Study Highlights:

• Starting the conversation: Posts that include a question or call to action from the journalist received the highest amount of feedback.
• Personal analysis is effective: Posts that included the journalist’s analysis and personal reflections had 20% more referral clicks than that of an average post.
• Images work: Photos received 50% more likes than non-photo posts, and journalists who shared links that included a thumbnail image in the link preview received 65% more likes and 50% more comments than posts that did not include images.

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