Almost all UK journalists are now regularly using social media – but its popularity hasn’t quelled fears over its impact on the quality of journalism.

Social media tools are most commonly used by journalists to publish and distribute their work – with 89% of respondents to a recent survey doing so. Traditional channels – such as personal contact, telephone, email and face-to-face communication – remain the most important for sourcing and verifying stories and conducting relationships between PR professionals and journalists.

97% of journalists in the UK now regularly use social media tools, together with more traditional communication platforms – 90% more than did three years ago – but 51% believe that social media encourages “soft” news, with more of a focus on opinions, while 80% believe that accuracy is the biggest problem.

The 2011 Social Journalism study, conducted by Cision Europe and Canterbury Christ Church University, examines the uses and perceptions of social media amongst UK journalists, based on 667 responses.

Twitter maintained its place as the most popular social media platform (along with other microblogging sites) from the 2010 study, followed information depositories (such as Wikipedia) and social networking sites.