This shift in traffic sources presents challenges for media relations professionals who need to understand how news circulates and reaches its audience. As social traffic evaporates, news sites struggle to maintain their audiences and reach new ones, affecting their bottom lines. Professionals are advised to diversify their efforts outside traditional outlets, consider other platforms like podcasts and YouTube channels, and adjust their branded media strategies as organic social traffic declines.
Key takeaways:
- Social media traffic to news sites has significantly declined, with large news sites seeing their traffic from social media referrals drop from 11.5% in 2020 to 6.5% in September this year.
- This decline is due to a conscious decision by major social platforms, leading to news outlets seeking alternative ways to replace the lost traffic.
- Media relations professionals need to understand these changes and adjust their strategies accordingly, including diversifying their efforts outside of traditional print/digital/TV outlets.
- OpenAI has developed a tool that is almost 99% reliable in detecting whether images were created with its own DALL-E 3 image generation tool, which could be a powerful tool in identifying and combating misinformation.