Vision Critical’s market research visionary to address Canadian publishers at this week’s national newspaper conference in Toronto.

Toronto, May 13, 2010 – Angus Reid, 40-year market research veteran and CEO of interactive research and technology company Vision Critical, will discuss how the digital age has transformed research and what that evolution means for newspapers. Reid will give his keynote address on May 14 to hundreds of publishers, owners and other leaders of Canada’s newspaper industry at the 2010 Ink & Beyond national newspaper conference.

“Quality online research is essential to editors, publishers and advertisers, if you want to understand your audience,” says Reid. “In the 80s, we used telephones to connect with consumers; now we use online and mobile technology. However, the research process hasn’t changed; we still need well-thought-out questions and careful analysis of data – much like quality journalism is still valued in the new media order.”

During Reid’s address to Canadian publishers, he’ll share the results of two new three-country consumer studies that compare online social media to traditional media. The first study, which surveyed 3,000 adults in the US, UK and Canada, explores who is using social media, what other media consumers are using, how receptive they are to advertising in those mediums and how much credibility consumers put in various forms of media – from newspapers to television to social networks. The second study, involving 4,000 adults in the US, UK and Canada, focuses on the trustworthiness of online social networks, as compared to traditional media channels.

“The majority of respondents from all three countries place more trust in traditional media than in social media,” says Reid. “Newspapers rank among the most trustworthy, second only to broadcast radio. Social networks and online forums, blogs, reviews and chat rooms are the least trustworthy of all mediums.”

Angus Reid founded his first company, the Angus Reid Group, in the late 1970s, later selling it to France’s Ipsos SA (now known as Ipsos Reid) in 2000. In 2004, he joined Vision Critical – a company founded by his son, Andrew. At the beginning of this year, Angus Reid was inducted in the Marketing Hall of Legends. Vision Critical is now a global enterprise, with 400 employees and 10 offices across Canada, the US, Europe and Australia.