How the Federal Workforce Consumes Media

Last week I attended Market Connections’ unveiling of the 2009-2010 Federal Media and Marketing Study. In its second year, this study aims to uncover how Federal decision makers get their news and information. Some interesting findings (from my perspective):

• Respondents named 36 outlets that are key to daily news and information gathering. These broke out to 14 social sites, 28 federally-focused publications, and 12 general business and news outlets.
• Top ranking federal pubs (across the whole respondent base) were Government Executive, Federal Times, Federal Computer Week, Government Computer News, and Defense News.
• Top ranking websites were CNN, Govexec.com, MSNBC, Fox News, and the Washington Post.
• While 45% of respondents said they prefer to read trade news as a combination of print and online, another 34% said they preferred print as compared to only 13% preferring online only.
• Tradeshow attendance is skewing lower with only 46% reporting they attended a show in the past year.
• Social media continues to grow, with the biggest jump from last year’s survey being the usage of LinkedIn (up to 16% from 4%).
• Social media faces hurdles in becoming a business tool for government with 55% of respondents unable to access social sites at work.

-Piper Conrad