Tuesday's quick reads: public trust in corporations, ghostwriting, and the personal touch

1.) Amassing a massive audience is rarely the right strategy. (Advertising Age) -- In the world of social media, scale is everything. Media darlings Twitter and Facebook boast, what, 30 sextillion members? It's enough to cause marketers to practically foam at the mouth. But is scale really everything?

2.) Survey: Trust in corporations increasing modestly. (Politico/Public Strategies) -- A new polls shows that trust in government has decreased since March, while trust in businesses has generally improved. Voters are also more inclined to believe business (68%) will play a larger role than government (32%) in the nation’s economic recovery.

3.) Lest we forget, a personal touch still matters. (Advertising Age) -- Marketing blogs are often trumpeting "digital-this" and "social networking-that." The Twitterverse is constantly buzzing, and Facebook updates come faster than e-mails. A writer asks: what happened to the personal touch?

4.) Senator probes medical journals for ghostwriting (Medical Media & Marketing) -- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) asked eight journals to provide information about their medical ghostwriting practices and policies, in an effort to “shed light on the role companies may play in the dissemination of information about their products through medical literature.”

The changing face of journalism

A new survey shows just how rapidly traditional journalism is changing, particularly at our nation's newspapers. The old rules of communicating are increasingly irrelevant as both journalism and public viewing habits change. Corporate managers would be wise to use the results to ask tough questions within their organization about how their company is adapting to the changes.

The survey by PRWeek/PR Newswire can be read by clicking here. Some highlights are below:

1. 62% of newspaper journalists anticipating "declines in print circulation and increased focus on the web" over the next three years.

2. 50% of media professionals are now considering a career outside of journalism.

3. 28% of media respondents are blogging for their traditional publication, a 6% increase from 2008.

4. Reporters' use of social media sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, increased significantly from 2008. 58% are on Facebook and 51% have a LinkedIn profile, compared with 29% and 32% last year. Twenty-two percent are on Twitter. The number of journalists not participating in social media is now a clear minority, with 23% saying they do not have a social network profile. In 2008, the number was 46%.

5. The majority of journalists responding prefer PR professionals to pitch them by e-mail with 80% listing it as their favored method.