An increasing number of Australian journalists are distancing themselves from social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, and migrating to Instagram and LinkedIn for professional use, The Guardian reported, citing the 2024 Australian Media Landscape report.  

Even though Facebook retained its position as the most favoured platform for professional use, the report said the relevance of social media for journalists to find stories or share their work has seen an overall decline.  

The report, which surveyed over 800 Australian journalists, stated that 76 percent of these journalists used Facebook, lower than 88 percent in 2019. Meanwhile, 10 percent of these journalists had either deleted their X account or ignored it professionally, while an additional 26 percent “rarely used” it for work. 

About 58 percent of Australian journalists used X in 2023 compared to 69 percent in 2022, and 73 percent in 2019.  Overall, about 73 percent of journalists used social media for work in 2023, against 77 percent in 2020. The report said 86 percent of respondents depended on industry and professional contacts as the top source of stories, followed by press releases at 81 percent, and search engines at 75 percent, and the general public at 72 percent.

Several journalists and media outlets have raised concerns over the recent changes on the Elon Musk-owned platform, including the monetisation of the blue tick or authentication mark. Newslaundry had earlier reported that NPR quit X over the “government-funded” label ascribed to it. The media outlet had called the tag “inaccurate and misleading”. Read here.

This report was published with AI assistance.