Social networks have become so popular around the world that it
has come to a point where journalists use them as their source of getting
information. Social networks always have fresh news that happen on the spot,
social networks are quicker than word of mouth because they reach the masses at
high speed.
Middleberg
communications released a report in PRWeek in September which states that 70%
of journalists use social networks to assist in their reporting. Last year only
40% percent but maybe that is because last year social networks were not as
popular as they are now. It is news on the spot, whether it is credible news or
not and that is where true journalism comes in. News becomes old within a
second, so using the traditional way of finding information will be a worthless
effort, if you need breaking news.
Social networks
are fast and it’s easier to get hold of sources in social sites. They are also
efficient and effective compared to traditional reporting. If a journalist uses
the traditional route to research a story, by the time the report goes out it
will be old news because he would have old news. Someone who might have been
involved in the event might have posted it up on their Facebook or Twitter
page. This leads to journalists, most of the time doing follow up or
investigative pieces than being the ones with breaking news. The point is that,
journalists have found social networks as an assistant in their reporting that
enemies or the opposition.
Sunday world on
the 20th of September reported on a story about Bonang (a TV personality) who
updated her twitter status saying Mshoza (a kwaito artist) sounds like a
“strangled hyena”. For the type of newspaper Sunday World is, it was a big
story to follow up and report on. The fact that the comment was made on a
social site and continued on to be on the front page of a tabloid means that
Social sites are useful and journalists still find them useful.
A survey conducted
by meddleberg-snr found out that tools used to assist in reporting range from
company websites, which ranks at number one with 92%, blogs and Wikipedia;
social networks ranks at number 5 with 41%. Social network survey conducted for
assisting with reporting sees LinkedIn ranking the highest with 48%, facebook
is just below LinkedIn with 45%, MySpace follows though with a mere24% and the least
used is Friendster with 3%. Only 30% of respondents do not use any online
social networking tools and that is not the majority.
With all these
facts provided, it is clear that journalists do use social sites and they have
proved to be useful. They assist journalists in finding stories, researching
them. It is easier to get all the basic information. Journalists are
information providers to the public but they too need to gather the information
before they can put a story together. Social sites are today’s source of
information, whether the info is credible or not is the journalists' task to
find out. The survey shows the credibility of social sites and points out that
a variety of journalists from different age groups think differently of social
sites and their credibility. The age group of 50-64 and 18-29 rate social
networks just below 20% in the credibility factor.
New Communications
survey reviews that 100% of responses from the age group of 18 and 29 say “new
media and communications tools are enhancing journalism,” and 40% of
journalists in the age group of 50 to 64 believe the same.
It is apparent that we all get our news from a social network of
some sort, the question we have to ask ourselves is “which source is
trustworthy?”. Journalists are competing with a lot of content out on the net
and it makes it hard for the relevant news to reach the people.
TheNASHmag Ed.
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