{"id":2274,"date":"2016-09-19T12:36:51","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T19:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/newsroom\/newsroom16\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2021-06-22T18:35:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T22:35:29","slug":"socials-evolving-impact-on-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists-org-develop.go-vip.co\/newsroom\/2016\/09\/19\/socials-evolving-impact-on-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Social\u2019s evolving impact on journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wesley Lowery isn\u2019t your ordinary reporter. The young Washington Post correspondent has covered several boundary-breaking stories in his career, including covering the Boston Bombings when he worked for the Boston Globe<\/a>, and the racial protests in Ferguson following the murder of Michael Brown, but there\u2019s one platform where he has successfully engaged his readers: Twitter.
\nArmed with his smartphone, his instincts, and over 400,000 followers, Lowery has managed to cover these stories live from his Twitter account.<\/p>\n

While Lowery\u2019s style of coverage is the current norm, his reach shows how important social media is in the field today. While many social platforms like Snapchat and Facebook continue add new interactive features for all users, they have also been beneficial for reporters covering breaking news.<\/p>\n

\n

Columbus police fatally shoot Tyree King, 13-year-old with a BB gun https:\/\/t.co\/vNDh707xKj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) September 15, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the Pew Research Center<\/a>, more than 60 percent of Americans get their share of news through social media, with Facebook (66 percent), Reddit (70 percent), and Twitter (59 percent) being the top three platforms. These figures show no signs of slowing as companies continue to prioritize social sites to distribute stories to larger audiences and engage with digital communities.<\/p>\n

At the Online News Association 2016 conference, social media stood its ground as a topic of extreme interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media is everything to the newsroom\u201d said Meena Thiruvengadam, Head of Audience Development at Business Insider. \u201cI think that social [media] is key for reporting, for establishing yourself as an expert in your area of coverage, for engaging with your sources and your audience, and for creating that type of unique community where brand loyalty comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thiruvengadam\u2019s hunch is correct. Studies show whether users intend to read news or not, they still get updated on the news via social media. According to Pew Research Center, more than 60 percent of users get their news through Instagram and Facebook when they are doing other things on the internet, but over 50 percent of those who use Reddit, Linkedin, and Twitter actually looks for news online.<\/p>\n

This could explain such high engagement numbers for live coverage by Lowery and other reporters that in turn, create a conversation among users. This goes far beyond the days of simply posting a status update.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shortens that amount of legwork that you do, and it\u2019s brought us a whole new sense of who\u2019s reading and what\u2019s important,\u201d says Kim Bui, Deputy Managing Editor at Reportedly. For Bui, before producing a story, social media is the first move she makes thanks to the ease of access it provides to new sources along with potential for community engagement. \u201cI understand it freaks people out to talk and get feedback about their stories immediately as you\u2019re going, but that\u2019s what make stories better.\u201d
\nWhile some experts at ONA explained the importance of social media in the newsroom, others spoke on the importance of targeting the right audience. Not every user uses the same platform to push their stories.<\/p>\n

Kat Friedrich, News Editor at Yale\u2019s Center for Business and the Environment, explained that Twitter and LinkedIn are the two main social media that her organization uses based on its target audience. \u201cOur readers tend to be people who are not necessarily using social media a huge amount, so we try to use it to leverage their time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other publications like the Daily Beast have used platforms like Instagram and Snapchat in a bid to capture younger viewers. However, according to the publication\u2019s Assistant Managing Editor, Emma Carew Grovum, the main goal is to provide content with the same journalistic values that are expected when writing stories.<\/p>\n

While social media is changing the way journalists cover stories, experts also recognized the need to monetize. \u201cIt\u2019s hard, not a lot of people are doing it well,\u201d said Bui \u201cWith social, it\u2019s a lot harder because we don\u2019t control the distribution, so you kind of have to work with someone else\u2019s technology. It benefit both companies, but you have to play by Twitter\u2019s rules or Facebook\u2019s rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thiruvengadam also spoke about how important monetization is as well as the difficulties. \u201dIf a media organization wants to pay somebody, they\u2019ve got to make money.\u201d said the Audience Development Head. \u201cA lot of news sites heavily rely on the clicks back to the site, and if you can\u2019t show that you\u2019re able to monetize your social only content, it becomes harder to justify splitting your efforts between social and site traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Media companies have managed to monetize their social media platforms by creating sponsored content, and publications like Buzzfeed and Complex have managed to do this through a plethora of listicles, op-eds, and video content.<\/p>\n

With newer digital features breaking boundaries on different platforms \u2014 like Snapchat Discover, Facebook Live, and Instagram 360 \u2014 the relationship between social media and journalism continues to blend. And though formats and platforms are evolving, journalists are still required to maintain the same values when creating content for their newsrooms. \u201cThere\u2019s no replacement for journalism ethics\u201d said Grovum. \u201cThere is a right way, [and] there\u2019s always a wrong way. We don\u2019t deceive people, lie to people or misrepresent ourselves. The integrity just has to be there, no matter what the platform is, so that mean\u2019s whether you\u2019re Facebook Live-ing, writing tweets, or doing a video or anything, the presentation has to be true to the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalism values are not the only priority for successful use of social media platforms. Bui mentioned how humanity may become a required factor when covering news on social media. \u201cI think people are going to want that more.\u201d said Bui. \u201cHumanity, empathy, ethics, that\u2019s where I want journalism to go \u2026 that\u2019s something you could do through social [media] very well, but you have to do that without losing your journalistic [values].\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The image of Omran, 5, captured the attention of a public numb to Syrian suffering. He is one of thousands. https:\/\/t.co\/60Mp0H4wnb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The New York Times (@nytimes) August 19, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whether journalists like Wesley Lowery are live-tweeting police and protest standoffs, or outlets like AJ+ are pushing social video on Facebook, newsrooms are evolving in order to fit into the digital age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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