Social Media and Journalism Communications & Media Essay

Social Media and Journalism
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Social Media and Journalism
Introduction
In the current digitally revolutionized universe, the internet has taken a central position in lifestyles and jobs in network societies, raising questions on the implications of such developments on news production and consumption (Alqudsi-ghabra, Al-Bannai, and Al-Bahrani, 2011). It follows that there has been a focus on whether online news from social media platforms will substitute existing physical prints like magazines and dailies or visuals like Television and audio like Radio. Therefore, there appears to be a 'new form of journalism' passed through the internet on social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, and others. This paper seeks to investigate the emerging new form of journalism to explain its characteristics and issues that come with it as given in existing literature.
Impact of Social Media in News Production and Delivery
There are new perspectives that continue to be seen concerning information over the years. Until the 90s, when the internet was of little significance to the general population, the spread of news and information was one-sided and reserved for journalists and other media professionals. Accordingly, such professionals enjoyed the exclusivity of collecting and disseminating news to the public. As such, the public assumed the role of news consumption alone, relying on media professionals to make it available through avenues such as print and broadcast media. Interactivity was an unknown term under this framework, and the public played no part in the production and transmission of information (Cela, 2015). However, things began to change as the internet became more widespread and began to be used by the general public in the late 90s and early 2000s.
In recent years and presently, the development of 2.0 technology is transforming the way people are accessing news across the world. For instance, search engines such as Yahoo and Google have made this area a navigational area where people can access different types of information conveniently through mobile devices and personal computers. Moreover, the proliferation of social media platforms, blogs, and other interactive forums means people have more access to online content. Therefore, questions have arisen on how these internet-based platforms are influencing the utilization of conventional media in the general public (Cela, 2015). Accordingly, people are now able to participate in the production and dissemination of information without having to depend on conventional media outlets.
According to Caumont and Anderson (2014), half of the users of social media sites have shared news stories, videos, audios, and even images. Moreover, online discussions also include news issues or events. This is changing the way people produce and consumer news. Moreover, devices have cameras and videos; thus, people can easily capture and share events online, reaching many people with much ease. It follows that in cases where there are emergencies or breaking news, social media has been noted to report such news items even before the traditional media houses do so. However, this comes with advantages and disadvantages alike. As pertains to the benefits, people can know what's happening and take necessary precautions if, for instance, it's an issue of public safety. On the other hand, this can be disadvantageous in the sense that uncensored content may find its way to the public domain.
Social media users discover news through website referrals. For instance, Facebook or Twitter users can find news items through websites shared on their timelines or news feed. It follows that getting news items through website referrals is faster than actually looking for such news items without social media platforms. Caumont and Anderson (2014), opine that users who visit websites through Facebook spend a shorter time to access fewer pages than those who visit the sites directly. Accordingly, the social media users then share the news with their contacts, making the news to spread to so many people within and with much ease. Furthermore, the experience of sharing or receiving news is different on social media than on conventional media outlets. A Facebook user, for example, accesses various topic areas of news items at the same time, unlike those who use print or broadcast media.
A significant concern brought about by the internet is on th...