Journalism and Social Media - Essay Example

Journalism and Social Media In the past one decade, the prices of technological devices have reduced drastically. In addition, the demand for Smartphone, iPads, tablets laptops, and other internet enabled gadgets has increased tremendously. This has attracted a high number of investors. This has led to an increase in the supply of these devices in the market. As a result, many people are now able to get access to the internet with ease. However, the entry of the internet in the world has made it possible for people to access social media. This is a media that is mainly based on conversations and interaction between two or more people using the online platform. For the past two decades, the web has revolutionalized the storage, publishing and consumption of information. The ripple effect has spread not just to the businesses and industry but also to politics, medicine, cultural boundaries, and media. However, the greatest wave of web innovation since Google in 1998 is the social media. Social media involves communicating and networking through the use of texts, videos, blogs, pictures and updates of the status through the use of platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. Nevertheless, of greatest interest is the way the social media has become an influential tool in both communication and news-breaking tool. For instance, in 2009, the US government had to request Twitter to delay its schedule maintenance because the platform was being used by protestors who were angered by the Iran’s election (Mersey 2010). Since then, other major activities has used the popularity of the social media to reach more people. Journalism in the age of social media can be well understood by analyzing the old versus new media. News consumption today has changed tremendously after the entry of social media. Initially, people used to wait for morning papers or sit down at an appointed time for the evening news on televisions. Initially, people used to tune to 24-hour channels in order to get information on what was happening all over the world (Macnamara 2010). However, this aspect has changed. A growing number of listeners, viewers, and readers are shifting towards the social networks for information. Initially, the circulation of information was limited to a specific geographical location. In addition, setting up a radio, print or television stations was an expensive venture. This is because these media houses required strong transmitters to transmit the signal around the whole country, region, or the whole world. However, journalism has changed with the penetration of social media which has enabled the users to connect to the internet in order to get access to a platform that is global and free to use. Initially, one had to have permission from various authorities in order to transmit the information (Zion & Craig 2015). However, social media is free from permission and everyone can post information without having to have information from any authority. Social media is not only having a major effect on well established journalism in the country or the world in general. Instead, it is changing the vast bulk of both the public and commercial media. In addition, it is bringing new forms of journalism such as citizen journalism and independent blogosphere. Journalism in the age of social media has become more accurate and reliable. Social media has made it possible for the journalist to get information more easily and as they happen. Through status updates from people who are in the site of event, journalism has become more accurate. Initially, journalists had to go physically to places where the real events are happening. This was time consuming and very costly. However, nowadays, they only need to ensure that the source of information is credible and reliable. This has made reporting more easily and cheaper than pre-social media days. Moreover, in old days, a reporter was given a lead or went out of their way in order to get a story to report. However, this aspect has changed immensely. At the moment, many of the stories being reported by journalists are received third hand from social media posts in Facebook or Twitter. Therefore, when the story is being assigned to a reporter, the story is already out there in the social media channels. Therefore, journalists have to go an extra mile to report in a different dimension that is not yet talked about by the social media users. This is to ensure that the media remains relevant in the society. Journalism has been made easier by the entry of social media. Initially, journalists had to look for leads in order to get fast hand information about a particular story. However, these days, there are leads such as what is trending on social networks. This aspect is making great changes in journalism by bringing new concept of what a scoop or breaking news is. Journalists are being forced to shift from traditional journalist process because the consumers want real time information. People want to have information once the journalists receive them. Therefore, sitting on a story until it is complete is risking it from being out-scooped by the competitors. Furthermore, media outlets used to out-scoop each other. However, any delay would make them to be out-scooped by bloggers, citizen journalists and twitterers. Journalism in this era of social media has changed towards urgency and verification of information. With the freedom in social media platforms, it is hard for a journalist to verify the authenticity of information being relayed in the social media. For instance, in 2008, a CNN reporter repoted that Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs had been rushed to hospital after a severe heart attack. However, the information turned out to be false. This media house had to remove the story immediately and it reported that it as fraudulent. However, the magnitude of this information was heavily felt in the financial markets. The Apple’s stock to its lowest that year before recovering after the information was removed. With the increasing levels of competition in the market, multinational companies are willing to use any form of propaganda in order to win the hearts of the customers (Zion & Craig 2015). Therefore, journalism in the era of social media has become more challenging as journalists are faced by a hard task of ensuring that the information being posted on the media sites is true. This is a task that requires to be done within a very short time or the story will be reported by other media houses. Therefore, social media as well as web 2.0 applications such as blogs and Google have played a critical role in changing the news industry and journalism at last. This is through presenting awesome possibilities while at the same time creating high risks for errors. Social media has impacted news by becoming the major source of news for the journalists. 50% of the journalists believe that social media has made it easy for them to get access to information and disseminate the information more easily. In addition, social media has made the news to be instant. This is because once the event occurs; people around can take to social media to report the occurrence. Then this can be used absorbed by the rest of the people. Furthermore, social media has made it possible for the news to be continuous. Initially, news was broadcasted in specific times (Macnamara 2010). However, they were happening each minute across the world. However, with the entry of the social media, people can get information at all times and as they happen. Social media has made news to be easily accessible irrespective of the person’s geographical location. Initially, there were rush hours as people tried to rush home in order to listen or watch news. However, this does not happen anymore. People can get information at their offices or any public places as long as they are connected to the internet and they own internet-enabled devices that can help them get access to social media (Zion & Craig 2015). Social media has impacted news by creating a platform for audience engagement. Initially, the journalists had to travel physically to different parts of the world in order to listen and talk to the audience and know their perceptions towards certain news. However, the social media has created a cheap and reliable platform where the journalists in the newsroom can get the reaction of the members of the public on specific news that they have released (Lynch & South-Western Cengage Learning 2009). Sampling this information enables the journalists to measure the magnitude of the news on political, social, and economic environment. With social media being more popular to the young generation, use of the platform has made it possible for the journalists to engage the younger audience and understand their stand on critical issues that affect them. This has made it possible for the media houses to bring on topics that are of great interests to these groups thereby, attracting a large number of views. Furthermore, before the entry of social media, journalists used to conduct frequent researches in order to know the perception of the audience towards the media house and the necessary changes that need to be incorporated in order to make the interaction between the two parties more interesting (Siapera & Veglis 2012). However, in the meantime, the journalists are able to take the views of the people directly through the social media, an aspect that has been critical in enabling them to improving their levels of reporting. In two decades, no one could have predicted that today the social media would have revolutionalized journalism the way it has done. At that time audio, visual, and print media were very dominance. However, two decades down the line the situation is completely different. The level of communication has changed immensely. Journalists are no longer custodians of their stories. This is because social media has created a channel for any person to air the story directly to the world without using the mainstream media. Therefore, with the changing technological sector, it is hard to predict the future of new media (Paterson & Sreberny 2004). Maybe in few years time, there will be a more effective news media which will enable people to report more effectively and faster than while using the Twitter. In addition, maybe people will have changed their preferences to new media outlet. Therefore, the future of news media remains uncertain. The level of competition among the global giants such as Apple Inc, Microsoft, Google and Samsung is making it hard to predict what will happen in the future in relation to news media. With the increasing levels of globalization resulting from liberalization of markets, efficient flow of information and integration of economies, the level of competition in the local and global market has increased tremendously (Mandiberg 2012). Therefore, these firms have shifted to innovation as a way of improving their productivity. This aspect is affecting the media which relies on new technology to transmit news to the audiences. The Twitter has led to too much information which is not edited. Initially, major media houses had the privilege of determining what their audiences will consume. However, in the meantime, Twitter has removed these restrictions, an aspect that has led to not enough but too much information majority of which are not relevant. Twitter has made it very hard for the people to get well organized information. Initially, the media outlets used to select the information which was relevant to the audiences. This is through organizing it effectively for the members of the public to absorb it (Kolodzy 2013). However, people are no longer aware of what is good or bad for them. This has a major impact on wellbeing of the people who are being bombarded with too much information. Twitter journalism is the use of Twitter as a virtual notebook. This is using the platform to collect and provide real-time updates on breaking news that are of great significance to the audiences (Kawamoto 2003). In addition, some journalists use the channel to direct the readers to their work concerning a specific topic. Moreover, it is the use of Twitter by journalists to reach the audience and interact with them in order to understand their arguments on a particular story. Social media and web technologies have shifted the attention of the newsroom operation by making it to be highly reliant on information being posted in these platforms. For instance, while reporting a news event, they are able to quote the information provided by those who are in the place of the event (Lynch & South-Western Cengage Learning 2009). Besides this aspect reducing the number of people being required in the newsroom, it has reduced the need for the journalists to move from one part of the world to another in search for information. The future of news remains uncertain. New innovations will dictate what next for this sector. In addition, development of social media platforms will make news more accessible to people in remote areas. However, the major media will have to find a way to incorporate the wave of these changes in their operations. This is to tap in the new ways of transmitting news to their audiences. This is because despite the entry of social media, people are still depending on the traditional media because the information has been edited for them. Therefore, the current traditional media houses need to incorporate the social media in order to cover a large number of audiences (Bradshaw & Rohumaa 2013). However, at the moment, the future of news remains in the hands of innovators who keeps on coming up with innovative ideas on how to transform the transition of the news to the people. This is an indication that news operators need to keep in tabs with what is happening in the social media in relation to new ideas. References Bradshaw, P., & Rohumaa, L. 2013. The Online Journalism Handbook: Skills to survive and thrive in the digital age. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Mandiberg, M. 2012. The social media reader. New York: New York University Press. Zion, L., & Craig, D. 2015. Ethics for digital journalists: Emerging best practices. New York, NY: Routledge. Kawamoto, K. 2003. Digital journalism: Emerging media and the changing horizons of journalism. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Kolodzy, J. 2013. Practicing convergence journalism: An introduction to cross-media storytelling. New York, NY: Routledge. Lynch, L., & South-Western Cengage Learning. (2009). Exploring journalism and the media. Mason, Oh: South-Western Cengage Learning. Macnamara, J. 2010. The 21st century media (r)evolution: Emergent communication practices. New York: Peter Lang. Mersey, R. D. 2010. Can journalism be saved?: Rediscovering Americas appetite for news. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. Noor, A. -D., & Hendricks, J. A. 2012. Social media: Usage and impact. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Paterson, C. A., & Sreberny, A. 2004. International news in the 21st century. Eastleigh, Hants: J. Libbey Pub. for University of Luton Press. Siapera, E., & Veglis, A. 2012. The handbook of global online journalism. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Read More