Social Media Broke the News
Social media broke the news…figuratively and literally. In today’s landscape, social media giants Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube serve as the go-to sources for current events, trending topics and breaking news. Cable television subscriptions are steadily decreasing each year, newspapers and magazines are dying off or switching exclusively to digital, and even businesses are following the trend and existing solely through social media profiles.
News on social media has changed the method of accessing information from years past, thus breaking the cycle of how news sources communicate with readers. This new age of social media domination has allowed regular, everyday people to achieve fame, break news and become public figures with influence. Live features on these platforms, such as Live Story on Instagram and Live Video on Facebook, have only perpetuated the speed and access that the public has to breaking news. Also, they do this without creating a viable revenue stream for those who produce the content. Users are able to interact with news updates through tweets, comments, gifs and more. The bright side to this: everyone can access this content and interact. The dark side? Anyone can access this content and interact, which may spread false information or hot takes and confuse readers. With the lumping together of content without specific requirements furthers the confusion and blurs the lines.
The bright side to this: everyone can access this content and interact. The dark side? Anyone can access this content and interact, which may spread false information or hot takes and confuse readers.
This instant access to content has effectively broken the news by breaking the news. News sources are no longer limited to television networks like CNN and Fox, or newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post. New sources, like The Shade Room and The Young Turks, which got their start through Instagram and YouTube respectively, are considered credible platforms for millions of Americans who follow these profiles and get their news on social media. These new sources with strong social media presences are able to provide easily accessible, free information and news without subscription fees whenever users want. They also provide free commentary and opinions based off the reporting of others. There is no need to tune in at 6pm or stop by newsstands for the paper; anyone can get onto Twitter for free and check the trending topics. Additionally, these same users can proliferate the spread of the news be retweeting, sharing and reposting on their own social media profiles.
It’s basically a free-for-all.
So, what does this mean for publications and news sources in the high-speed chase to break the news first? It means a new methodology to determine the content that will appeal to users the most. Which information will spread the fastest takes priority over the actual breaking of news. Specific video formats, eye-catching captions, hashtags…all are part of a digital toolbox to lure social media users to click on posts, articles and links in the hopes of it going “viral” on the internet. In an effort to crack the code to viral content, various research studies have been conducted to determine effective headlines and “share-worthy” elements of an article.
Major publications have taken note of this. In 2014, The New Yorker published “The Six Things That Make Stories Go Viral Will Amaze, and Maybe Infuriate, You” covering the Aristotelian element of ethos, logos and pathos necessary for a story to be successful in today’s digital landscape. In the article, Jonah Berger, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, along with Katherine Milkman, another professor at the Wharton School, analyzed close to 7,000 articles from The New York Times published between August 30 — November 30, 2008. After controlling several factors, Berger and Milkman found that two elements of an article had a direct impact on an article’s success: how positive the message was and how much it excited the reader. Equally, if readers felt infuriated or anxious, they were just as likely to share the article. The more effective an article was at inciting a strong emotion in readers, the more likely it was to be shared or spread.
What does this mean for the new world of social media news reporting? Considering the landscape necessary for social media to have dethroned news outlets, the element of sensationalism and provocation of strong emotions is now an essential component for content to be considered successful. This redefinition of “success” as how far a story spread as opposed to how informative and accurate created the necessary evil of popular, share-worthy content for clicks and likes. Thus, we have changed the content itself. The digital landscape has swept in to streamline access to content, creating a massive oversaturation of content and the need for eye-catching headlines and posts that stand out. In this way, social media has effectively broken the news and the fundamentals of news reporting.
