Last week, the initial findings of the Euroblog 2007 study were published.
Euroblog 2007 deals with the way blogs and other social software are changing organizational practice. The aim of the study is to understand the spread, implementation and usage of social software and blogs in public relations and communication management in Europe.
In this second study – following on from Euroblog 2006 a year ago – more than 400 communicators from across Europe participated (I was one of them).
Philip Young, one of the lead researchers, believes the study results clearly show that social media is moving into the mainstream for communication practitioners across Europe:
[…] the results suggest that a significant number of practitioners are going beyond the ‘it’s new so it must be good’ response of EuroBlog 2006 to a more mature and sophisticated understanding of social media which recognises the potential for listening as being at least as important as the opportunity blogs and vlogs offer for shouting out messages in trendy new ways.
Philip’s belief is borne out by this slide from the results presentation:
Especially interesting to see the significant upward jumps in positive opinion (those noted in red) from 2006 to 2007.
Euroblog 2007 was coordinated by the European Public Relation Education and Research Association (Euprera).
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One response to “Survey: Better understanding of blogs by European communicators”
[…] 3. LA Times reporter Terry McDermott’s article about how the rise of blogging is having an impact on traditional journalism is a great read for anyone who is sceptical about ‘this fad’. He explains how mainstream publishers getting onside and are commercialising blogs as part of their product portfolios. 4. In the same vein, Neville Hobson covers the recent Euroblog 2007 study which examines how interactive social media is changing organisational practice in Europe. The numbers demonstrate that public relations professionals here are becoming hugely more sophisticated very quickly. […]