Look at me…..I’m the Gatekeeper now!

Who has the power to influence the media and the content it puts out on a daily basis? You! As the consumer any medium bends and breaks based on your engagement. Over the years measuring and monitoring consumer engagement has been made easy with the help of social media. Don’t like the content? Well, make your own.

Not only do social sites allow you to rate and provide feedback on content, but it allows you to produce your own. While this is a major advantage for journalist and content creators, an influx of social media users can lead to an over saturated market. With an increase in content producers it becomes harder to stand out and establishing a strong following.

To establish a strong following audience engagement is key, it provides a personal touch to the work that content producers put out. Jeff Benjamin is an Editorial Director at Fuse TV, he is known for his exceptional coverage of Korean pop music (K-pop). Personally I have followed Benjamin for a few years and have noticed his climb has been greatly attributed to his ability to communicate so well with fans.

In the tweet above Benjamin announced an upcoming collaboration that amassed over 11,000 retweets. This engagement is a response to Benjamin aligning himself with fans of the popular group by constantly posting milestones for the group’s meteoric rise in American pop culture.

The factor of ethics also comes into play when allowing consumers to produce their own content. Being able to freely post your own ideas and stories has been one of the many advantages social media platforms have granted users but, it becomes a problem when a content producer has no set standards of ethics to uphold like a traditional journalist would. The line between an unpopular opinion and something down right offensive can be thin when you don’t have someone watching over you.

As a journalist you should engage with your audience heavily; not only will it help you establish a following but, it allows you to recieve constructive feedback instantly. It is important to know not to cross an uncomfortable line while opperating on social media platforms, a good way to gage the appropriateness of a piece is to pay attention to your followers and their reactions.