The news is one of the driving forces of human nature. The overall scope that it covers pertains to everyone in one fashion or another. Traditionally speaking, before the advent of social media, we would find out about stories via television, newspapers or the radio. In today’s world, we still heavily rely on those same outlets. However, the social media craze has drastically cut into the overall usage of those traditional methods. With the internet having grown at an exponential rate in recent years, websites like Google, Facebook and Twitter see traffic of over 1 billion combined visitors per day. As those numbers undoubtedly continue to climb, it poses a few questions. Is this the death of newspapers? Can mainstream media and social media co-exist? AND Do we view current events differently now?
Unfortunately, the “newspaper graveyard” is increasing a rapid pace.
Are Newspapers dying a slow death?
The combination of people ditching newspapers in favor of reading articles online has reflected the trend our nation is currently following. There are some timeless publications that will never go out of business such as The New York Times or The Washington Post (to name a few). With that said, even those major distributors have adapted online versions of their stories. To further the notion of dying newspapers, Wikipedia has an entire list of defunct newspapers.
Clearly, the main catalyst behind the dwindling newspaper industry is, of course, the internet. Think in laymans terms for a moment, why would someone pay a monthly fee for the newspaper when they can access the same stories online using their computers, cell-phones or tablets? It all boils down to a waste of money for the average person. Not to mention, once the newspaper has been printed and delivered they cannot update an ongoing story or situation until the following day and the entire premiss could have changed drastically. The idea of purchasing a newspaper service just does seem like a logical choice in this internet age. Therefore, several newspapers are definitely dying a slow death and the select ones that have adopted a online version will continue to survive.
Can Mainstream Media & Social Media Find a Happy Medium?
This obvious answer is YES. Although, as the great Lee Corso famously says, “Not so fast my friend!”, we must recognize we’re in the midst of a giant paradigm shift. In other words, out with the old and in with the new. The Millennial Generation has unanimously decided that social media networks are the present and future of obtaining information. Meanwhile, the aging Generation X or The Baby Boomers population hasn’t completely passed the theoretical torch towards this movement just yet and as a result we still see companies like the yellow pages hanging on by a thread.
What happens next?
Once social media has fully infiltrated all walks of life, collectively we can progress as a whole in terms of how we receive our news and totally eliminate all obsolete methods. There are definitely some promising signs with people immersing themselves with both social and mainstream media. For example, if television viewers are tuned in to a sporting event or awards show, those major networks have recently incorporated the option for those same viewers to communicate in real time with one another. The ability to blend both forms of media ultimately enhances the entire production for everyone. We like to call that a win-win. In the end, the correlation of social and mainstream media makes for a higher quality presentation.
A New Approach to Current Events
Manti Te’o, the subject of an elaborate alleged internet hoax, is currently facing immense criticism from ALL media outlets.
With the integration of Facebook and Twitter, to name a few, as focal points in our daily lives we have left the door open to overnight exposure for the average citizen. More precisely, anyone can receive international attention from a timely tweet or a cleverly designed Meme. The term “viral” has entered
almost everyones vocabulary, and rightfully so. At any given time, a Facebook post or Tweet can literally go viral. The most common occurrence of this happening is during a breaking news story. For example, earlier this week the major headline (other than Lance Armstrong’s highly anticipated interview with Oprah) was the discovery of Notre Dame’s star linebacker Manti Te’o’s fake girlfriend. After this “hoax” was announced, within a 24 hour span, a trending array of memes spawned from this announcement. The newly coined “Te’oing” has swept the over the internet and sequentially has now found it’s way to television sets worldwide. From here on out, any current event is fair game for people to scrutinize, ridicule or over-analyze (which is nothing new) but now these thoughts are shared instantly and people from the far stretches of the world are connected. Essentially the grapevine now grows in all countries across the globe.
Conclusion
Bob Dylan once sang, the “Times are a changin” and that is the truth. One slip-up in todays’ world can mean a lifetime of criticism and a unwanted black cloud that looms over you forever. Which leads me to the pressing issue at hand, has the collaboration of social and mainstream media posed as our friend or foe? I think the answer lies within one another. Can we get positive feedback from this? YES Can we inspire generations of individuals to accomplish the impossible? YES Has the phenomenon of the social media age played a vital role in the progression and innovation of human discoveries? OF COURSE On the other hand, has instances of cyber-bullying caused extensive pain and sorrow for certain individuals? Sadly it has. All in all, I would like to believe that the pros of our new social-media-platform-lifestyles far outweighs any negative human behavior associated with it. Let’s face it, the internet is here to stay and we shall totally embrace it!
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