The use of social media platform in the reporting news has surpassed the traditional means in that the shift in the media industry has had a great effect on the credibility, verifiability, and distribution of news. In the old days, citizen reporters were given a lead on how to find out a story. In the present day, with the rise in the use of social media platforms like Facebook, and Twitter many stories are received third hand such that by the time the stories reach the reporters, it is in another form. The reporter is thus forced to find other versions of the story that is not being talked about in the industry by celebrating the traditional journalistic process since people want real-time information. The need for information as soon as it …show more content…
Twitter was used as one of the earliest live pieces of evidence in Haiti concerning the earthquake. After the first shock, twitter user Fredo Dupoux publishes the first tweet that prompted his followers to assess the immediate information and retweet it to other followers through the Twitter effect. Twitter emerged as a crucial tool in receiving the breaking news directly on the ground in Haiti. With the communication channels out of order in the areas that had been hit by an earthquake in Haiti, the major players in the media industries who did not have their journalists on the ground resorted to the use of Twitter as a primary source for their news gathering. Twitter active users at the Haitian earthquake were helpful to the media houses and other people who had lost their family and relations in the quake. Carel Pedre, a famous radio show presenter, used the opportunity of having many followers as a channel of sharing tweets and saving few victims. Although many consumers rely on traditional media to acquire information like television coverage, people turn to Twitter to share information, draw a reaction on the matters, and look for support through hashtags and creation of trends. Humanitarian Twitter accounts have established a large follower's base because people prefer them regarding reporting an emergency in the country in case of another disaster. International Red Cross society, for example, has been …show more content…
Twitter users often subscribe to tweets from other users or favorite news sources for easier following of news or events. Twitter effect contributed to the efficient distribution of news about Haiti. This involves the rapid spread of information about an event or situation through Twitter. Once a tweet is retweeted by another Twitter user, it can spread to more than thousand people depending on the number of followers. Twitter has proved itself through the Haitian earthquake that it can be a very effective tool for the government agencies, media industry and various NGOs. However, the negative effects of the use of Twitter are from the situation where tweets spread on the platform that major organization like the United States airlines were flying doctors to Haiti. This was a false rumor because the earthquake had rendered the areas in Haiti closed to commercial
Twitter is an online social networking service that has grown to a global scale. In 2006, it was created for people to be able to share short blurbs of information with each other, and it has done its job quite well. However, like most technologies, there comes consequences, good and bad, that many didn’t intend, or expect, to happen. Twitter has greatly affected the world, and society as a whole, as it affects everything from the news to even how we think.
This essay is based on Marshall McLuhan (1967) theory, which states that the medium is the message. McLuhan states that the form of a message determines the ways in which that message will be perceived.
Instantaneously people everywhere, internet permitting, can see the actual events. People absorb this information and react. Social media has given so many people the ability to stay involved in the world by showing them tragic events. This allows them to focus on how to change the world for the better. Information used to come from only a few sources that filtered their information while social media shows raw
A medium is a means of mass communication, such as television, radio, or newspapers. Harold Innis, a leading scholar of communication and media theories, separated media into two categories, time-biased and space-biased. Time-biased media last longer but reach few, while space-biased mediums reach many but are short lived. Twitter is a social form of media, which sends short messages that have the potential of a massive audience on a global scale, putting in Harold Innis’ category of a space-biased form of media.
Facebook is slowly replacing the industry leading news stations like CNN, NBC and Fox News or in other words "the middleman" by directly connecting the public with the writer without the editor and publisher. Although that may have downsides most people seem to prefer it simply because it is not filtered on what a particular company wants to produce and gives less power to the major media companies that tend to sway people in a particular direction. To come up with a solution to the downside of Facebook comes many great ideas like creating an algorithm to spot unreliable news articles, or create a community that identifies misinformation for the benefit of everyone else, or creating a human team of journalist and policymakers that judges whether an article is factual. Although these theories have potential to be successful it is ultimately up to the viewer of the article to determine whether or not they want to research and confirm the information on the topic presented to them. Social media platforms have changed the way modern America perceives news forever with preferences to each profile and the ability to explore other types of information by entering a few keywords in a search bar is a method only a couple decades old and we should try to prevent from limiting this type of
Those that seek not only news, but assistance, can utilize social media during disasters for assistance from other members of the public (think Cajun Navy during Hurricane Harvey, when people could not get through to 911), as well as to organize and direct resources, where needed. (Cohen,
The act of communicating is a diverse and multifaceted arena, one which allows a variety of styles, uses, and even creativity to convey meaning. Today there are multiple platforms and interfaces, like social media, that people use to express their thoughts and opinions. These social media sites often become an arena for people to display their particular linguistic creativity. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram provide a platform for the use of linguistic creativity. This paper will provide a coherent analysis of just such an instance of linguistic creativity as found on the site Twitter.
Naturally, journalism would spill over to the Internet and as social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook grew in popularity, so did regular citizens involvement with sharing news. The argument can be made that the explosion of social media journalism was due to frustration from the lack of coverage of news that mattered to society. For example, the lack of subjective coverage of Michael Brown 's death helped with the creation of #BlackLivesMatter and spread of news related to African-American’s and other minorities across the country. After all, journalism is supposed to be a public forum. Millions of people on Twitter share their thoughts and opinions on several topics, furthering the conversation and to some degree challenging society. Things such as “Moments” on Twitter provide us with direct links and summaries to the world’s most important stories and encourage a conversation. According to journalism.org, 63% of users on Twitter and Facebook get their news from these websites. Even more eye opening is that 59% of users on Twitter keep up to date with news stories via Twitter while they are in the process of happening.[3] The rise of social media related journalism has caused some issues however. “Inevitably, as citizen involvement grows, more of our media culture is concerned with talking about news, instead of focusing on original reporting and the vetting of it.”[4] Because the general public has the ability to post as they wish and pass it off as news, it has affected the accuracy of many reports. Many stories lack reputable sources but are shared between millions as an accurate and true story. There are several websites designed to spread inaccurate information. The website www.fakenewswatch.com exists to inform people of these sites in order to avoid mishaps. Recently a Connecticut mom went viral for being involved in an online hoax
Mainstream media such as television, radio, newspapers were the primary source of reliable information before the epoch of the internet. However, the situation has changed. The evolution of modern technology in the world today has led to the continuous increase in the methods of practicing journalism. Social and technological advancements have not only improved the pace and content of this field’s practice, but has extended its genre to online or cybernetic journalism. (Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2007). News websites most of which are owned by major media companies and alternative websites with user generated content such as social networking sites and blogs are gaining grounds in the journalism field of practice. (Nel, n.d). One of the chief forces affecting the practice of journalism nowadays is online citizen journalists. Nel (n.d) defines citizen journalism as “individuals playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information”. He further adds that “citizen journalism is slowly being looked upon as a form of rightful democratic ways of giving hones news, articles, etc, directly by citizens of the world from anywhere.” One of the major researches conducted in the field of citizen journalism, describes the phenomenon as “individuals who intend to publish information online, meant to benefit a community”, and this information is expected to benefit the audience or the wider population in making decisions for the improvement of their community. (Carpenter, 2010.)
As social change is dependent on transformation at an individual level, Twitter makes itself helpful as a campaign tool. When victims see that others have endured the same trauma, it directly helps them as they can see that they are not alone in their pain. Even if they do not feel support by those they directly interact with in life, they know that people do care about them. While it cannot be denied that hashtag activism is an effective method in spreading awareness of a cause, the tangible achievements attained from physical protests perhaps outweigh those on the Internet.
Social media has become both popular and crucial in crisis and emergency communications. Responders are not only communicating to their public through social media outlets, the public is communicating with each other, and with responders. Individuals are able to provide important information on disaster impacts, including location and imagery, using nothing more than a smartphone equipped with a camera and GPS locator. One particular technology from Ushahidi offers an interesting way for responders and affected individuals to communicate with one another in the course of a disaster response. The Ushahidi BRCK offers an application of technology that, while not originally designed for use in the emergency management field, has an application in the response to a disaster. This and other technologies contribute to the ever changing way responders and individuals communicate.
Social Media is fast and endless, some other Apps like Instagram, Youtube, Tumblr, and Reddit ,again this is just a short list of where people are deciding to get their news stories from. “News plays a varying role across the social networking sites studied.Two-thirds of Facebook users (66%) get news on the site, nearly six-in-ten Twitter users (59%) get news on Twitter, and seven-in-ten Reddit users get news on that platform. On Tumblr, the figure sits at 31%, while for the other five social networking sites it is true of only about one-fifth or less of their user bases”(Pew
Newspapers and magazines may cease to exist as we know them and simply more to solely electronic productions. “Breaking news” can be moved to live stream videos by newscasters and not formal stories. There is a possibility that newer forms of media will eliminate old forms altogether, but that does not have to be the case. Ideas from both can be taken and merged together to ensure a quick and also trustworthy source for news. Social media is a medium between the two that is a good goal for media companies to reach. Many “old media” news sources have a Twitter, Facebook or other type of social media account related to their companies. The news is trustworthy because it’s coming from a well known source, but it also comes faster than a broadcast story or a newspaper/magazine article. A good example of where having a social media account is more beneficial is with the fire currently burning in Santa Clarita. News sources such as ABC 7, KTLA, and the LA Times are able to give constant updates via “new media” about the condition of the fire and the environment around
I am an aspiring journalist, so I am interested in the news every day. I use social media most of the time to see what’s happening around the world. For example, I learned about Prince passing away on social media. After I saw the news on social media, I turned on CNN to see if they were covering Prince’s tragic death. We have to be careful about what we learn on social media because sometimes the reports we see are false; that’s why I turned on CNN to make sure the news of Prince passing away was true. Social media is how I learned that Paul Walker passed away and one of my favorite NASCAR reporters, Steve Byrnes. Social media is an amazing, powerful tool to get us to watch coverage of a story on a news station. For example, my local news
Twitter is also important for more than this social aspect. It also has a practical benefit for business to promote products, theologians to discuss faith, and for scientists to announce their latest discoveries. While these do not appear in the top 20 list, they do play a vital part in th...