This is no surprise but according to the U.S. Census, public relations jobs exceeded those of reporters by more than six-to-one last year, up from less than two-to-one 20 years ago. We often hear about overwhelmed journalists and of course the ones that just simply ignore pitches either because they don’t like the pitch or even more probable, they just can’t read every pitch. So, what do we PR people do? The short answer is look to social media. Many clients who aren’t familiar with PR think we can call journalists who are in our Rolodex (who even uses this term anymore?!) and chit chat to get their feedback on a pitch. Well, not so much. First, journalists are not reachable by phone anymore, email is preferred. Secondly, their beats often change so maybe you secured an awesome story with him/her last year about innovative healthcare technology but now they cover healthcare policy. Checking their social media is the best way to see what they are covering today and even find out their likes and dislikes. You may even be able to gauge their humor and be able to relate to them in a pitch. Nowadays, social media (Twitter being the most helpful) is the first place to look before pitching. Journalists will always be overwhelmed at this rate but we PR people can only do our best to cut through the clutter and stand out with pitches that are tailored to a particular journalist.