Impact of Social Media on Traditional Media in Relation to News Production - Essay Example

? Social Media Impact Of Social Media On Traditional Media In Relation To News Production, Delivery And Consumption [Pick the Introduction Social media has emerged as an important player in the Information Age. Among its numerous features is the ability of users to create and share news content with social network members. The functionality afforded by popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter has made it much easier to create news content in text, audio, or video, and to share it with millions of social media users. These changes have raised some concerns about the role of traditional media organizations that have long maintained credibility for objective news editing. This role as well as the role of gatekeeper to information is being redefined in the light of social media usage patterns. This paper discusses how social media has influenced the way in which users consume and experience news as well as the ways in which traditional media organizations produce and distribute news content. The discussion in this paper highlights the challenges posed by social media to the authority of traditional media. It also identifies the opportunities for collaboration between the two. Social Media and User Engagement Crowe (2012) describes five types of user involvement in citizen journalism, with varying degrees of involvement and objective reporting. Blogs, discussion boards, tweets, etc. have become common tools to share news items within social networks. These tools allow users to create editorial content for others. Crowe (2012) argues that citizen journalism has had considerable effects of the traditional media in terms of profitability. He explains that although the content produced by citizen journalists does not go through the rigorous vetting of traditional media channels, the sites encouraging such form of journalism collect information from a large number of similar sources which results in validation of the information. This is particularly true in emergency situations when reporters may not arrive for some hours. Crowe (2012) notes that these developments have inspired traditional media organizations to collaborate with social media platforms for delivery of news content. Organizations entering into such collaborations include Newsweek and AOL. Changes in News Production The way in which news is produced on social media is dramatically different from the traditional methods of news production. Kerrigan and Graham (2010) note that the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies are having a huge impact on the production and consumption of regional and local news. In the social media environment, news is increasingly produced by bloggers and citizen journalists in a way that encourages the consumers to participate in the news generation process. On the other hand, in the traditional media, the production function is performed by the journalist and the news is then offered to the consumers as information. Kerrigan and Graham (2010) note that it is a competitive disadvantage for traditional regional news media if they do not exploit the potential for engaging readers in the production of local and regional news. Traditional media have been affected by reduced entry barriers and advertising share to more engaging social media sources. News consumers can act as reporters and editors of news content in the new media which leads them to prefer new media news sources over traditional ones. Thus, there is a need for traditional media sources to overcome resistance to change and embrace the new social media environment. The advent of social media has had considerable impact on the credibility and power of traditional news media sources. O’Connor (2012) notes that the role of traditional media as gatekeeper of information has been considerably weakened. In addition, the perception of a news media organization as a brand has eroded to some extent in favour of the personal branding enjoyed by citizen journalists, bloggers and others in the social media. O’Connor (2012) explains how traditional media organizations have responded to this challenge by developing a human aspect to their reporting methods. O’Connor (2012) also argues that the combination of news searches and recommended news through social media is a threat to the official websites of mainstream news media. However, this perspective ignores the potential for collaboration between social and traditional media. Citizen journalists and bloggers cannot be expected to follow a news story to its culmination with the persistence of journalists. A unique perspective on the role assumed by social media in terms of news production is presented by Krishnasamy (2013). Arguing from a Malaysian perspective, Krishnasamy (2013) sees social media as a necessary channel of news in the face of an international media boom in the country. The author argues that traditional media channels such as CNN are entering the country with a perspective that does not clearly echo the views and concerns of the local people. She claims that the interests of traditional media channels are tied up with elite power circles of the country. In such as environment, social media has emerged as a credible and authentic source of local news for readers. It is also freeing readers of the influence of government censorship of traditional media. Like other scholars cited in this paper, Krishnasamy (2013) also calls for greater collaboration between traditional media and social media. Stephen and Galak (2010) explain how the media landscape has been revolutionized with the emergence of social media outlets. They further argue that in some cases, the new social media outlets have replaced traditional sources of information such as newspapers and television. The user profile of social media sources has also undergone a rapid transformation. While earlier a younger demographic was attributed to the popularity of sites such as Facebook and Twitter, today social media has become common among most Internet users. Speaking with reference to publicity and marketing, Stephen and Galak (2010) explain that because of easy access, social media is used to generate and diffuse information about an activity. After some delay, this news is picked up by traditional media and given coverage. This concept may also be applied to the coverage of local news items. Citizen journalists may pick up news items and record unfolding events using their mobile cameras to be transmitted via YouTube and other social media channels. Changes in News Consumption Behaviours Social media has changed the way people consume and experience information including news. News consumption on social media has the advantage of being shared quickly compared to traditional media sources, which makes social media a more attractive source for news. Hermida et al. (2012) have conducted a study on the news consumption patterns shaped by social media. The study shows that more people in Canada are getting their news through social media. It can be argued that this is related to the increase in social media use along with the size of consumers’ social networks. The report by Hermida et al. (2012) states that two-fifths of the social media users receive news from users they follow, which indicates that the personal credibility of the news source is an important factor in news consumption patterns. Comparatively, only one-fifth of the 1600 respondents in the study said that they followed professional journalists to access news. This indicates a shift in attitudes where the institutional authority of the news organization is being shared with the personal credibility of social network members. Social media has also allowed news consumers to come into contact with more diverse news compared to traditional media sources. Hermida et al. (2012) observe that more traditional news organizations are embracing social media as a means of marketing and distribution. With social media, users are able to consume only news that is relevant to them. Hermida et al. (2012) also suggest that social media is rapidly becoming the main source of news for consumers. Personalized news streams and web feeds have made this possible. Among the new social media channels, those most relevant to the delivery and consumption of news are Facebook and Twitter. Mitchell and Rosentiel (2013) explain that despite their popularity, Facebook and Twitter have small populations that are news consumers. In fact, only 9% of online news readers follow news stories they receive through Facebook or Twitter. More than 35% still prefer using the websites of mainstream media organizations to follow news. Most people on Facebook follow news stories recommended by family and friends while Twitter members follow up stories recommended by news organizations and other third parties. As the variety of mobile devices increases and new apps for smartphones are developed, online users will have greater access to news stories through social media. Despite this potential, Mitchell and Rosentiel (2013) argue that social media cannot become a substitute for traditional news media. Changes in News Delivery Behaviours Meraz (2009) discusses the aspect of democratic openness of the news-sharing done through social media compared to traditional media organizations. In contrast to a top-down approach to news content production and delivery, the social media supports content production and dissemination in an open system environment. In such an environment, users can not only read the news item, but modify it, share it and comment on it. Such features are available in traditional media to some extent but not with the ease and speed of social media. On the other hand, Meraz (2009) also presents a concern among some quarters that the social media may be controlled by a few influential users. At times, the news shared through social media is related to specific interests that may not justify the adoption of a mass media channel. Such stories may interest a limited audience and is more suitable to be shared via online communities of mutual interest. At the same time, social media maintain links with the traditional mainstream media organizations. Meraz (2009) identifies certain social media news-sharing platforms such as Digg, Reddit, Netscape and Newsvine. Each of these has varying levels of links to traditional and social media. Hermida (2012) argues that the distinction between producer and consumer of news has been blurred to some extent by the emergence of social media. The most notable changes have taken place in the way news is gathered and delivered to consumers. Hermida (2012) notes that social media has helped traditional media to cover the gaps in reporting that occur during the time taken for official news correspondents to arrive at the news scene. The abundance of mobile devices and the convenience of sending 140 character tweets has enabled news to be produced and transmitted in real-time. At the same time, the importance of journalistic objectivity has also faced some challenges from the personal nature of social media news reporting with some mainstream journalists being inspired to mix personal opinion with objective reporting (Hermida, 2012). Furthermore, social media has also brought into question the degree to which traditional media can control news content. Newman (2009) is more optimistic about the increased scope for cooperation between social media and traditional news media organizations. He argues that the two are not threats but can complement each other through their unique strengths. Newman (2009) also reports that mainstream news organizations have realized the potential and have made innovative changes to leverage the power of social media. Traditional media skills are still invaluable as the need to sift meaningful and credible news from volumes of user-generated content. Newman (2009) states that personal recommendations on social media will play a more important role than self-directed searches in bringing news stories to readers. Furthermore, traditional news sources will have to create content that has ‘sharability’ value for the users. Mainstream news sources such as New York Times, Guardian and Telegraph have begun involving readers in generating content successfully. In doing so, they can shape interesting debates based on diverse opinions and voices. Instead of viewing social media as a threat to their audience, traditional media have accommodated social media into their overall delivery and distribution strategy. It has been found that social media can complement the news distribution through traditional media. Hong (2012) explains how a number of news organizations have begun using the potential of social media to increase traffic to their official websites. According to the research, Hong (2012) concludes that making social media outlets a part of their news delivery strategy has helped newspapers attract online readers. The evidence does not state whether this translates into increased readership for the print version of the newspapers. However, this finding alone shows that traditional media outlets can benefit from the social media environment. At the same time, the research by Hong (2012) also paints a fairly cooperative picture for traditional media houses. The evidence gathered from the research shows that the strength of association between social media strategies and official website traffic depends on how much traffic social media news sites are able to attract. In this way, it seems that social media news can be used as a channel to direct news consumers to newspaper websites. Although the research indicates strong potential for generating traffic, it may be recommended that this strategy be complemented by other search engine marketing approaches as the traffic generated by social media sites is found to be less concentrated than traffic generated by search engines (Hong, 2012). Hence, social media can act as a positive addition to the delivery systems of traditional news media outlets. Research has also shown that news is also shared across social networks. Thus, a news item discovered by a reader on Facebook can also be shared with that user’s network members on Twitter, and vice versa. Researchers Kim, Newth, and Christen (2013) have attempted to model how news stories are diffused across social networks. Their study reveals that dynamic influence has emerged between social networks. In particular, news stories related to political protests and multicultural issues diffuse at a greater pace. Kim, Newth, and Christen (2013) also conclude that such diffusion across social media takes place without explicit guidance by the participating networks. The study further found that news media were most influential for stories on business and economy. On the other hand, users preferred blogs and other social networking services (SNS). This has important implications for traditional media sources in that they need to embrace a multi-pronged social media strategy. Using back links to news stories posted on social media sites, blogging sites, and various news sites can help traditional news media sources drive user traffic to their websites. Conclusion On the basis of the foregoing discussion, it can be concluded that social media has dramatically influenced the way in which news is perceived by consumers. Social media has enabled users to create, share and modify news content instead of receiving it passively. This has been a development over the practice of using search engines to track news items. Today, users can receive automatic updates to news stories of their interest through social media. These developments have made traditional media channels more open to user engagement. There have been instances of collaboration between social and traditional media in sharing content, particularly in crisis situations. Furthermore, news channels such as CNN and BBC invite viewer comments on developing stories through Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Most of the research cited in this paper claims that social media has the potential to act more as a complement than a threat to traditional media. However, traditional media needs to adopt greater flexibility and develop professional values and standards to reflect this growing democratizing effect. References Crowe, A. (2012). Disasters 2.0: The application of social media systems for modern emergency management. CRC Press. Hermida, A. (2012). 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Papacharissi (Ed.), Journalism and citizenship: New agendas in communication. New York: Routledge Publishing. Mitchell, A., and Rosentiel, T. (2013). What Facebook and Twitter mean for news. Retrieved from http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/mobile-devices-and-news-consumption-some-good-signs-for-journalism/what-facebook-and-twitter-mean-for-news/ Newman, N. (2009). The rise of social media and its impact on mainstream journalism. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Working Paper, 1-55. O’Connor, R. (2012). Friends, followers, and the future: How social media are changing politics, threatening big brands, and killing traditional media. San Francisco: City Lights Books. Stephen, A. T., and Galak, J. (2010). The complementary roles of traditional and social media publicity in driving marketing performance. Insead Working Papers Collection, 97, 1-31. Read More