For information contact Ephraim Cohen at +1-917-215-5413 or cohen @fortexgroup.com

Public Relations for Technology and Media Companies

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The following report is based on a survey of executives in the media, technology, telecommunication and marketing industries conducted through LinkedIn. The content of this report simply reflects the results of this survey and does not reflect findings, agreements or scientific analysis. All questions and commentsshould be directed to Ephraim Cohen at The Fortex Group

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cohen@fortexgroup.com or (203) 569-9436.

While there’s never a shortage of

buzz about the latest information distribution platform or adviceabout the latest outreach strategies to best deliver messages to your intended targets, whatcommunications professionals really need to understand is exactly how their audience is going aboutgetting their news today. To that end, we recently conducted a series of mini-polls on LinkedIn, forwhich we surveyed 100-200 executives per poll about how they personally receive news andinformation.

Key Findings

News web sites and aggregators dominate with 52% of respondents get their news from newsweb sites and 28% from aggregators like Google news.

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Twitter is rising as a news distribution source with 7% of respondents getting news that way(and

it’s still early

). Email is still a strong option at 10%.

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Print is still important as 37% read a print paper daily and 20% cited print when asked aboutreading opinion editorials.

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Mobile platform is not only a strong news delivery tool, but is a platform where interest in usingnews applications (38% said they used applications) allow for branded applications vs. webbrowsing (35%) where users may easily move to another site.

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No one type of news site or source dominated in terms of the type of result people click onwhen searching for information.

Note on the polls.

Please keep in mind when viewing this data that these polls DO NOT indicate that you either should or should not pay attentionto a specific type of outlet or platform. Rather, their results indicate a potential, general trend and they serve as a reminder that we should neither take new platforms for granted nor dismiss the effectiveness of established ones.

Page 2

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The Information Ecosystem Survey Series

For information contact Ephraim Cohen at +1-917-215-5413 or cohen @fortexgroup.com

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In our first poll, we surveyed 200 professionals in the marketing, tech/telecom, media and relatedindustries. This group was selected both because they represent common targets for client programsand because they are often seen as earlier adopters than are their counterparts in other industries.In response to the question of how they get their news, news sites and aggregators dominate. WhileTwitter received a strong response, this is the predominant Twitter-using crowd. As early adopters, theymay be indicating future potential for wider usage or experimentation

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time will tell. Blogs were notrated as highly and do not seem to be taking over as a primary source of news delivery. That may bedue to blogs often being more of a news opinion source than news itself while blogs that deliver newssites, such as Business Insider, are simply seen as news sites (which happen to be using a blog platform0.News sites clearly dominate in this area; however aggregators also have a sizable market share. This issignificant because as these aggregators gain value as a primary information source, the necessity forSEO in press releases continue increase as a second arm of media relations program.Twitter had a surprisingly strong influence, rivaling that of newsletters; however,

Twitter’s 140 character

limit is perfect for news headlines. Email newsletters remain strong for niche interests, so while theirpercentage may be low, in reality they may retain a high level of importance for industry-specific news.Blogs came in last, but that may be because they are perceived less as a news source and more as anoutlet for opinions and niche interest areas. This will be examined more in depth in a subsequent poll.Unprompted quotes from respondents led to some interesting revelations:

Page 3

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The Information Ecosystem Survey Series

For information contact Ephraim Cohen at +1-917-215-5413 or cohen @fortexgroup.com

Print still has a real purpose, and while e-readers may eventually change this, they do not yethave enough market penetration for a real impact. Respondents said:

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I still enjoy browsing through a REAL newspaper over coffee!!!

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“

I actually get 90% of my news from reading the New York Times every morning on mycommuter train. Actually a combination...newspaper and the net..still nothing like readingthe hard copy

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While people have definite preferences, they will use a mix of sources:

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I then use the aggregation of Yahoo! News and the NYTimes.com to fill in the holes. I, of course, get virtually all the news of my industry from very specialized newsletters and emailalerts.

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It depends on the type of news I am looking for or interested in. News sites are key forgeneral info, and e-newsletters are great for business or topic specific news.

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Mostly NY Times online, Yahoo! News and a host of e-newsletters and blog feeds.

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90% on-line NYT, NPR, Business Week.10% cable/MSNBC. If my total news intake is one-hour per day that is more then sufficient as the rest is spin and just feeding the beast.

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I haven't bought a newspaper in months! There is something to be said for the convenienceof being able to peruse constantly updated news online. I usually look at the popular newssites for the important, late-breaking stuff, and eventually make to to blogs for any nichenews, commentary, or interesting points of view.

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For this poll, we surveyed 125 executives with more mobile-oriented job functions (marketing, sales,some IT, etc.) across business sectors to explore how people retrieve news on a mobile device.Coming as a bit of a surprise, apps showed very strongly, which may be an indicator of the strength of the iPhone apps store (where news apps sell quite well). This may indicate that on a mobile device,where screen size and mobile environments require more focus, specific news delivery systems may winout over general searching (just look at the popularity of news apps like AP news on the iPhone). Shouldthis trend continue, public relations professionals may well end up shifting more time to focus on majornews brands that have strong footholds in mobile platforms.This will be an interesting area to watch, as preferences may shift considerably as handset technologyand mobile industry business models continue to evolve.