RTDNA/Hofstra Study Looks At Newsroom Social Media, Mobile Use

Study

In the third release of information from the annual RADIO TELEVISION DIGITAL NEWS ASSOCIATION/HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY study of newsrooms, radio news directors bucked the trend of broadcast news directors trying new things in social media in 2014, with a majority -- 57.1% -- saying they did nothing new, while 42.9% said they had tried new things.

The numbers contrasted with television, in which 72.4% of news directors said they had tried something new in social media in 2014, with just 27.6% saying things had stayed the same.  But radio stations did say they were doing "more" in social media, as in being more actively engaged in social media and getting the staff more involved.

As for mobile, radio again bucked the trend, with 63.2% saying they did nothing new in mobile in the last year, as opposed to television, where 59% said they had done something new.  Most radio news directors who did say they were doing something new were referring to launching a mobile app; apps for radio stations were sharply up to 49.7% of respondents, although for television, the percentage is 87.8%.

Radio appeared to be using TWITTER more than television does, although FACEBOOK was also heavily used; oddly, study director BOB PAPPER noted, a drop in FACEBOOK usage came from "a lot more major market stations in this year's survey that don't use FACEBOOK at all. Hard to understand in 2015."

Read more about the study here.

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