  We describe the results of a qualitative study on journalists' information
seeking behavior on social media. Based on interviews with eleven journalists
along with a study of a set of university level journalism modules, we
determined the categories of information need types that lead journalists to
social media. We also determined the ways that social media is exploited as a
tool to satisfy information needs and to define influential factors, which
impacted on journalists' information seeking behavior. We find that not only is
social media used as an information source, but it can also be a supplier of
stories found serendipitously. We find seven information need types that expand
the types found in previous work. We also find five categories of influential
factors that affect the way journalists seek information.
