The Wall Street Journal/WSJ.com Still The Preferred News Source For CEOS

SILICON SLOPES, Utah – April 10, 2013 – Despite the rapid pace of change, one thing has remained consistent over the past decade:  The Wall Street Journal is still the favorite news source for company leaders. CEOs report The Wall Street Journal/WSJ.com was their number one news and information source 10 years ago, and remains so today, according to a new study sponsored by Domo and CEO.com, an online resource that lets busy executives stay up-to-date on the latest news and best practices in business management. 

 

The study also found that online is now the most prominent source of business information for CEOs. Fully 87% of CEOs go online for business information at least once a day, and 80% are willing to pay for business content they find valuable, according to the survey. 

 

And, despite their fondness for The Wall Street Journal, CEOs are gradually turning their back on traditional sources of business information. A decade ago, nearly 25% of CEOs relied on local newspapers, magazines and TV for much of their information. But today, those data sources are less important to CEOs, according to the CEO.com study. Whereas 10 years ago, the digital version of the local newspaper was the preferred online news source for 15% of CEOs, today local newspapers do not even register on the survey.

 

Instead, traditional sources of business news are being replaced by aggregators such as Google News, Flipboard and Yahoo News. What’s more, CEOs are increasingly getting their news and information from social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter, according to the study.

 

“Social media, and the pervasiveness of analytics in web content, is taking our relationship with the news to the next level,” said Josh James, founder and CEO of Domo. “CEOs are no longer passive observers of business information. Today, they interact with news stories, comment on them in real time, and share them with their network. Newer information sources like Twitter and Flipboard are largely geared toward an up-and-coming generation of CEOs and the new ways they interact with information in general and social media in particular.”

 

When it comes to social media as a source of business information, the survey revealed a strong generation gap. More than twice as many CEOs under 50 categorized Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, blogs, YouTube, and Flipboard as “very valuable,” compared to their counterparts over the age of 50. But both younger and older CEOs did see eye to eye on the usefulness of LinkedIn, with 91% of all CEOs finding it valuable for business. 

 

Like most everyone in the digital age, CEOs today don’t just consume information, they create it as well. Over the past 12 months, 31% of CEOs wrote a blog post, 60% participated in a webcast or video, and 87% posted to a social network, according to the study.

 

Another key finding: 57% of CEOs prefer to consume business information in text format, while only 8% prefer to sit through a video. This is not surprising given that CEOs are extremely busy people and demand immediate access to information. Indeed, 70% admit they seldom read an article from top to bottom—preferring to scan the main points instead.

 

Still, consumption preferences could be starting to shift. Seventy percent of CEOs say they watch more video than they did a year ago. And 22% showed no preference one way or the other, suggesting that CEOs across the board are becoming increasingly “information agnostic” – caring less and less about what format their information comes in, as long as it is immediate and consumable.

 

A complete copy of the report is available for download at CEO.com.  Additional perspective on today’s news is also available here via the blog of Domo founder and CEO Josh James. 

 

About the Survey

 

CEO.com surveyed more than 350 chief executives representing a wide range of age, industry and experience.  

 

About CEO.com

 

CEO.com was launched by Omniture co-founder and longtime CEO Josh James, before he launched Domo, to help business executives stay up-to-date on the latest news and best management practices across top industries. CEO.com is now sponsored by Domo. 

 

About Domo

 

Domo is a cloud-based executive management platform that redefines the business intelligence (BI) market and transforms the way business is managed. Domo gives users direct, real-time access to all the business information they care about, all in one place.

 

With more than $125 million in funding, Domo is backed by an all-star list of angels and investors including Benchmark Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Ron Conway and David Lee of SV Angel, Hummer Winblad, plus the who’s who of SaaS and Internet technology.

 

Domo’s founding team consists of some of the most sought after talent in the industry with experience that includes Amazon, American Express, Ancestry.com, eBay, Endeca, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, MLB.com, Omniture, salesforce.com and SAP.

 

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Media Contact

Julie Kehoe, VP of Communications

www.domo.com

Julie.Kehoe@domo.com

914-374-862