The Internet continues to be the most influential and important source of business information for C-Level executives around the world, at 67%. This number has increased 37% since 2004. At the same time, C-Level executives, citing newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal as their main source of business information, has decreased 36% since 2004, reports The Center for Media Research.

The study was done by Forbes and Gartner and finds

• Senior Execs are using the web to research competiors and industry trends daily
• They're more likely to access the web than read a newspaper before going to work
• The majority of their media consumption in on the web
• They think that the web contains the most informative advertsiing

Well that dispels any idea that C-suite execs are still in the last century, technologically.  Yes there may still be those few dinosaurs whose secretaries print out their emails.. But by and large they're Net savvy and more of them are turning to the web for information each year.

If you want your information seen by the C-suite, you need a smart online PR strategy. And if you've despaired of ever getting ink in the Wall St Jouranl, tihs study shoud bring a broad smile to your face. You can reach that audience directly with your news - if you place it correctly into online news sites and news search engines.

Dan Breyers, local business editor at the Washington Post, talks about how social media is impacting the media and how the paper is adapting.

He starts by reading a prediction that within 10 years there will be no more print media. And goes on to give his personal strategy as business editor.

 1.  Provide excellent content.

2.   Provide new ways for companies to engage with the audience. Offering access to the data and more indepth content about the companies

3.  Make it easy for people to use and share the information

This is definitely not your grandmother's newspaper. 

Take note, PR folk.  If this is where reporters and newspapers are heading, your media relations strategy will have to look very different too.

Hat tip to Geoff Livingstone for the video

80- percent of users 17 and older consider the Internet to be an important source of information, says USC's 2008 Digital Future Report ..

 68 percent rated it higher than TV, 63 percent preferred the Net to radio and 63 percent rated it better than newspapers as an info source.

The Digital Future Project also found that the social aspects on online communities is growing at a rapid rate

Membership in online communities has more than doubled in only three years. More than half of online community members (54 percent) log into their community at least once a day, and 71 percent of members said their community is very important or extremely important to them. Fifty-six percent of members reported meeting their online counterparts in person.

More than half - -55 percent -- say they feel as strongly about their online communities as they do about their real-world communities.

Just as the Internet is changing the way we communicate and interact, so it is changing how businesses should interact with their customers and stakeholders. 

The role of PR is shifting.

Find out where your audiences are online and make it easier for them to share ideas with you and with each other.