The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

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With social media having such an incredibly strong foothold and print media stepping back a bit, you may wonder what is in the future for journalism. In the future, how will social media connect with journalism?

Social media has tremendously changed the way that journalists do their jobs. In order for journalists to be successful nowadays, they must be heavily involved with social media. They need to be tweeting, updating their various social media profiles and blogging. If they are not doing that, other journalists will be involved with social media and they will have a serious advantage over them. In the world of journalism, all successes depend on getting the story before anyone else does. Social media has created a filter for high-quality content. Another wonderful edge that journalists who are involved with social media have is that they are gaining the trust and credibility of their readers and they can interact and continue to strengthen the relationships. Journalists use social media to collect and syndicate the news. So, what will the relationship between social media and journalists be like in the future?

Journalists’ involvement in social media

Many businesses are actively using social media platforms to include news content in their web presences. There is an emphasis being placed on the quality and uniqueness of the news content. Many social media companies are either partnering with or buying news sites so that the two can offer both quality and quantity. The news content is customized for individuals and there is as much content as a person could possibly ever want or need.

Social media’ involvement in journalism

Nowadays, there are many journalists who no longer work with traditional print journalism at all. Their writing skills haven’t changed at all, however, the dissemination has changed dramatically. Because of the expansive capabilities of social media, journalists can offer all sorts of opportunities to their readers (such as being able to vote for their favorite news story, for example) that have never been available before. In short, the readers have much more direct and personal involvement with the journalists than ever before. With the interactive feature of social media platforms, it is completely conducive to the readers getting involved and interacting on a regular basis.

What will the future hold?

Social media will allow more people to be heard. Of course, the one thing that can happen is that a large amount of the content will not be high-quality content. Most people will only be interested in content that they really enjoy reading. When it comes to journalism, the facts must be backed up by credible sources and the credibility factor must be very high. There must be a great deal of substance to the content. Pretty, empty words really won’t go very far with the readers.

Conclusion

Journalists and the entire journalism industry has always been incredibly important. It is important to remember that staying in touch with the public is an objective that is at the top of the priority list and truly fulfills the needs of both sides—the journalists’ needs and the needs of the readers. The industry is ethical, filled with integrity, exciting, informative and educational. Journalists are a group of professionals who are well respected. It makes a great deal of sense for journalists to get involved with social media because, after all, it is all about the content and content is king!

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Author

  • Carolyn Cohn

    Carolyn Cohn is the Co-Founder & Chief Creative Services of CompuKol Communications. Carolyn manages CompuKol’s creative and editorial department, which consists of writers and editors. Her weekly blogs are syndicated globally. She has decades of editorial experience in online editing, and editing books, journal articles, abstracts, and promotional and educational materials. Carolyn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo.

16 Responses

  1. Pradnya Singh says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    Things are changing with time and so are the ways. I feel social media and journalism together can make an impressive impact on the readers. With social media journalist can leverage interactive journalism, they can effectively publish their stories, views and links to their print articles for their readers and can get direct responses, views, additional information from them. After all a journalist writes for their readers and with social media they can connect directly with them.
    Posted by Pradnya Singh

  2. Tom Diederich says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Social Media & Community 2.0
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    Journalism and social media have always been connected – but they are not the same thing.

    I was one of Computerworld's first online reporters in 1998 and we had comments, the option to share links, related stories, videos, etc. Early social media.

    That said, journalism and social media are apples and oranges.

    Journalism is the profession of writing for newspapers/magazines (and of broadcasting) news. Like any profession, it takes training and experience. Just because I can put a Band-Aid on someone doesn’t make me a doctor.

    Journalists know how to ask the right questions, check facts, and confirm to the best of their ability that the information they are communicating is objective and factual. If someone they are interviewing has a suspected hidden agenda, they check into it. They get the other side’s story. They then present the facts for the reader to decide. There should be no agenda and/or bias or slant in the finished product.

    Social media is just another way for that information to be shared/communicated — in an interactive way.

    With the popularity of tablets lead by the iPad, newspapers and magazines are starting to experience a rebirth. It's good news for everyone. So in that since, the delivery and consumption of news is rapidly changing from the traditional print to online format — no doubt about that. And traditional print-based news organizations like the New York Times have learned from past mistakes and are changing with the times (so to speak). It's a win-win for all sides.
    Posted by Tom Diederich

  3. Rey Ybarra says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Books and Writers
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    Carolyn,
    It seems to me to be the other way around! Journalism seems to be following social media. Why? Social media breaks news in real time as you are well aware. Especially events that are cataclysmic which have the biggest impact on society. The Iranian revolution, the Haitian earthquake, the tsunami in Japan etc… People were tweeting in real time about these events and the news agencies were broadcasting them.

    I remember watching a news report on CNBC on one of the popular shows a few years ago and the guests were two journalists who reported on the movies.(film critics for a major newspaper).

    The segment was about if they were relevant anymore as film critics because of how people were tweeting in real time about movies they were watching. And by the time they write about it in their newspaper it is already old news. It will be very interesting to see where we will be heading in the next 2-3 years. Great topic you chose Carolyn!
    Posted by Rey Ybarra

  4. alya alghanim says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Creative Designers and Writers
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    social media is enhance significant role to develop the community. The relationship between journalism and reader are very strong. it will probably expand the ability of the reader to observe the sphere of their environment.exchanging data between both party creates high quality brain thinkers who likes to motivate them self by reading and interacting with social media.
    Posted by alya alghanim

  5. Maryann Reid says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Books and Writers
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    Right, all major journalism outlets have a social media platform via Twitter, FB or what have you. It raises interesting issues including reliability and accuracy, and some ethical issues.
    Posted by Maryann Reid

  6. Paula Frost says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Writers World
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    I think social media has given us a platform to promote ourselves that we never had before. A place to network and interact with other journalists and keep up to date on trends and developments. I believe social media is the way forward for any business and freelance journalists can only benefit.
    Posted by Paula Frost

  7. Michelle Hodgson says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: AssociationofWriters.com
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    As a former national newspaper journalist (on staff at the Guardian) and a current freelance journalist (plus copywriter & events organiser), I was made aware some time ago that there would be a swing from the website being treated as the poor relation to the other end of the spectrum.
    Newspapers have been trying to adapt to this, especially as they have lost income from advertising (which has largely gone on-line) and through free newspapers and free website content.
    Although there is a certain freedom to the fact that now anyone can go online and start a magazine or newspaper format, review or comment or blog, it can get frustrating for journalists who have spent years building up their career when everyone suddenly becomes an expert and when it isn't done to a professional standard, eg, without reference to the NUJ's codes of conduct.
    As to how they connect: journalists have had to learn how to adapt to new media, including providing audio and video for their papers websites as well as tweeting etc. Certain journalists (eg Claire Amitstead, literary editor of The Guardian, John Rentoul politics Independent) not only tweet frequently but use it for gathering feedback. It does work the other way, though, as newspapers now look online for successful bloggers and draw them into the fold. As with books, however, there is a feeling that there will always be a place for a paper that you can read on the train or over lunch and chuck away – though with the Kindle etc, perhaps it'll take a different format. All food for thought!
    Posted by Michelle Hodgson

  8. Heather Rosso says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Publishing and editing professionals
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    I'm sure there's lots more to discuss regarding this, but one tidbit is that it could be easier? Previously more of a storyline, details needed to be developed — press releases, a few paragraphs — but with tools like Twitter, could leads to journalists be sent in much more condensed form? "This is happening, here's the link (to event, to organization, to research) . . ."?
    Posted by Heather Rosso

  9. Eric Kotonya says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Social Media & Community 2.0
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    I think the connection between social media and journalism lies in online analytics search – for trends, sentiments and open polls results.

    With the explosion of social-sourced content, web content volume is growing fast. What is lagging is accurate, easily available and reusable online analytics for journalists to use as the starting point of their stories.
    Journalists equipped with analytic-search tools are guaranteed to win in 3 respects: they can sniff and report of what is already trending, they know the numbers in news before they ask questions, and they can sell fact-based forecasts.

    New layers on Bing and Google search which make analytics available to mainstream search users will cement the social media-journalism connection.
    Posted by Eric Kotonya

  10. Suze St Maur Writes says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Writers World
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    I think a number of us writers – myself included – felt a bit threatened by the social media because it was such a departure from the traditional media. But although different, it's still a medium, and we're wrong to let the tail wag the dog here. There is a place for good, responsible journalism in any medium, social media included. You can still flag up a good story, even in 140 characters…
    Posted by Suze St Maur Writes

  11. Sandra Davis says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Writers World
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    I read that this form and ebooks is the current wave of publishing. We might as well get used to it and use it for our advantage. The ebook wave came over us a lot faster than anyone thought it would.
    Posted by Sandra Davis

  12. Chase McMichael says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Social Media & Community 2.0
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    Great question. Here we posted "Winning Curation Strategies and Brands Becoming Publishers" We are seeing a big move in brands desire to discover content and or determine what content is being consumed for intelligently creating greater appealing content. Those that keep their audience up on what is happening in their industry are thought leaders and will own the voice of the business.
    Posted by Chase McMichael | Social Intelligence

  13. Carlostella Rosanna says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    If somebody in the group isa a journalist or knows journalists, he/ she should try to answer this question or have it answered. The subject is complex and inetresting and a varieetd feedback is needed, I think.
    Posted by Carlostella Rosanna

  14. Patricia Lester says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    I cannot imagine any traditional journalist not taking on board the significance of social media in relation to their writing. Before social media became so 'huge' – many journalists had moved into freelance work because magazines/newspapers cut back their full time staff. This resulted in people, like us, losing contact with individual journalists. Now with the internet it is possible to re-find these people and connect directly with them.

    They in turn can write exactly what they like without their articles being re-written to suit the editor – etc. It is a whole new era when people can interact with what is published – the journalists themselves can get direct response from the readers without the hidden agenda of 'company policy' diluting either their writing or the feedback.

    And yes there might be loads of rubbish out there, but clever blog writers will rise to the surface and be put on people's 'favourite' list and scattered all over the place by the hundreds of SHARE buttons. It is all extraordinary and exciting.

    But bottom line – how can these journalist make a living – unless their content is sought by on-line magazines or used in hard paper editions – or do they have the potential of advertisers wanting to use their site for a fee? Also how can they protect their writing from being taken by someone else and re-published as the other person's work?

    So yes Carlostella you are right it is indeed complex as well as exciting.
    Posted by Patricia Lester

  15. Carlostella Rosanna says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: "Write It Down"-A Website for Writers
    Discussion: The Coupling of Social Media and Journalism

    Dear Patricia,

    thank you for appreciating what I wrote.

    I think you have focused the problem perfectly, not only analyzing the
    advantages of social media for journalists who can express themselves in
    nearly total freedom, but asking practical and legal questions, referring
    to their professional life. Your comment is very interesting and can be
    used with students in forums and discussions.

    All the best

    Rosanna
    Posted by Carlostella Rosanna

  16. Yasser says:

    Social media is perhaps the dangerous thing that could ever happen to the public. I dont think anything good that would be done by it. Reasons biased blogs. When it comes to journalism one looks at the audience and has a control on words being said. But social media gives people to change histories the way they like provide evidence the way it supports them. Bring on debates where they want people to debate only on things they have written. The governments should realise that social media will be a threat to them sooner or later. Social media will act like a platform for jobless journos to vent out their anger onto anything and everything which they oppose.