How has social media changed the news?

How has social media changed the news?

These days you don’t even have to watch television or listen to the Radio for news, because all the information comes to you wherever you are.

Nearly every single person has Facebook, twitter or any other type of social network these days. Social networks were used for interacting with one and other, however now it is a new way of communication and keeping In touch with the world. The way the public listen to the news has changed now from what it was 10 years back. All newspapers, magazines, blogs have their own accounts on these social network sites to keep their followers updated and acknowledging them of any breaking news or give the public updates about the latest news, gossip and more.

News accounts intend to make this easier for their readers by posting a link to the site so the reader does not have to search for it, they also post status’s and updates on the newsfeed, this makes it easier for the reader as they are able to simply click on the link and all the information they need is there. If a person if not following the account or any other they are still able to see the link or tweet if an individual shares the link on their account, retweets the tweet, the tweet can also trend on twitter due to the number of retweets it has gained. An example of this would be the BBC news twitter feed.  

"We have had problems which we simply cannot overcome." Judge discharges the Eddy Shah rape trial jury bbc.in/YKtzYL
— BBC London Newsroom (@BBCLondonNews) May 10, 2013

Although to access some newspapers the reader has to pay online, most newspapers are there to read for free. Such as Daily Mail , The Sun , The Guardian and more. These newspapers also allows the company’s to know how many people are reading the news, what is the most popular article and more, this is because they all have  a forum where people can write their opinions about they think of the story, if they want to read more news like this, how many likes and shares there are. All these factors allow the company to know what their readers like to read and what interests them the most. Whereas with paper news the company is not able to tell or gain any feedback that effectively in order to know what their readers like to read.

Journalists also pass around the news on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. One of the most popular news which escalated on Twitter was the death of Osama Bin Ladin. I found this quote on a blog post written by Hannah Vinter which quotes the CNN vice president and general manager, Peter Bale, who says ‘’ Osama Bin Laden’s death spread on Twitter to illustrate how quickly news can now move on social networks.’’ A man named Sohaib Athar, a Software Consultant tweeted about the incident of Osama Bin Ladin’s death which created a huge scene on twitter, and the news spread all over the media. Another example would be the Michael Jacksons death, I myself personally found out about this via Facebook through friends who were updating their status. Many people found out from various sources, for example people now have News Apps which are available on smart phones such as iPhone and many more which allow readers to access news wherever they are, also some apps send notifications when a news worthy piece is available which may interest the reader regarding their previous read articles. This is a podcast which explains what had happened by Sohaib Athar.

This an image I found reading an article by Heather Leonard  which displays top 10 news websites visited via Facebook.