Social Media and Its Impact on News Media

Social Media giants have become one of the most influential parts of the online world, with Facebook having 2.2 billion MAUs ranking first in the number of MAUs.

(Image courtesy of Lyketil)

Social media consumes a huge portion of our daily lives, and remains as one of the biggest industries that have impact on the news industry. Past are the times when we sat in front of the TV waiting to see what has happened ; nowadays, we see the content online before it appears in the news. A survey conducted in the U.S. in 2017 shows that over 67% of adults get their news online via social media. Although there is only a slight increase from the same survey conducted last year, which shows 62%, the increasing influence of social media still remains inevitable.

Trump and Twitter

Twitter is a social media that allows you to send and receive short posts called tweets. In 2018, Twitter already has 321 million users worldwide. Trump is one of the most influential leaders, and using social media as his blog makes him one of the biggest advocates of this platform. From his first presidential debate, he has raised so much attention with Twitter that resulted in people writing way more articles about him than his opponents. Twitter has an impact on the news industry because instead of waiting for journalists and reporters to give us a perspective on a certain topic, we get immediate responses from the protagonist in his point of view using social media. Twitter, with its millions of users, has been a huge source of news.

From 2009 when he first opened his account until now, Trump has posted more than 33,000 text tweets as he dominates news coverage.

(Image Courtesy of Observer)

Facebook and Fake News

With over 2.2 billion MAUs (Monthly Active Users), Facebook easily holds the first place when it comes to the most influential social media platform. With so much influence and accessibility to information, there is still a downside, which is misinformation. When people abuse this platform with the intent to fool certain groups of vulnerable people, this powerful social media comes in handy, for it offers tools for its ad buyers to sort out a specific group of audience the ad buyers want to target. These propaganda can be transformed into articles or posts that are controversial and lack credibility, yet with the powerful platform, these posts could quickly spread across the internet gaining tens of thousands of views. This is especially a big issue when more and more people turn to social media for news input.

Josh

References:

Chamberlain, Craig. “How Has Twitter Changed News Coverage?” ILLINOIS, 22 Oct. 2015, news.illinois.edu/view/6367/267046.

Gottfried, Elisa Shearer and Jeffrey. “News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017.” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, 27 Aug. 2020, www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/.

Harper, Ruth A. “The Social Media Revolution: Exploring the Impact on Journalism and News Media Organizations.” Inquiries Journal, 1 Mar. 2010, www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/202/the-social-media-revolution-exploring-the-impact-on-journalism-and-news-media-organizations.

Press, Gil. “Why Facebook Triumphed Over All Other Social Networks.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 8 Apr. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2018/04/08/why-facebook-triumphed-over-all-other-social-networks/?sh=73bdf6416e91.