Monday, February 1, 2016



Who Watches The News Anymore?

            Apparently more readers are getting their news from social media outlets like; Facebook and Twitter, than the actual news sources’ website.



          In the article Facebook And Twitter Really Are Where People Get Their News it analyzes and discusses the idea that more people are getting their news from Twitter and Facebook than ever before. The percentage of people who have gotten their news from Twitter has risen 11% from 2013-2015 and the percentage of people who got their news from Facebook has risen 16% from 2013-2015. “It’s a big audience, and both tech giants are pushing aggressively into news to meet that demand.” According to the article, Facebook developed Instant Articles and Twitter created Periscope, another news outlet, in order to meet the demand of their readers and keep users interested in Twitter and Facebook longer.

On the contrary many people do not believe Facebook and Twitter are reliable news resources. In the article People Don’t’ See Social Media As An ‘Important’ News Source, it acknowledges that we use Twitter and Facebook for news but we do not regard as a reliable news source. “The percentage of US adults who get news from Facebook and Twitter is growing, a strong majority of users tend to see the services differently than their older counterparts.” Basically the older generations see the social media sites as unreliable ways to get news, whereas the younger generation believe it’s the most important and useful way to get their news.

            In an article from the Guardian, Facebook Instant Articles: BBC News and Guardian sign up to initiative, it describes how Facebook’s Instant Articles are beneficial to journalism. Facebook has signed has signed BuzzFeed, the New York Times, National Geographic, NBC News, The Atlantic, The Guardian and BBC News just to name a few. “It is great to see Facebook trialling new ways for quality journalism to flourish on mobile,” said Tony Danker, international director for Guardian News & Media, publisher of the Guardian and Observer. In other words, Instant Articles is developing ways to reach a wider audience.

         In the article, Why You Need to Start Using Facebook Instant Articles, Stat, it tells us that in 2015, over 63% of users relied on Facebook for news. So with Facebook Instant Articles, users can read articles effortlessly with no loading time; hints instant articles. "As mobile readers have become a major source of traffic for media in recent years, it's great to see that we are finally getting a better user experience." Without mobile or online articles, I don't think news outlets would survive.
       After reading over these articles and doing further research about the topic, I have learned that Facebook’s Instant Articles and Twitter’s Periscope have pros and cons. The cons of this new way of promoting news is that the older audiences believe that it is not a reliable source for news, although it is coming from reliable sources; Facebook just promotes it. However, the younger audiences believe that it is a reliable way to get their news and it’s very easy to access. The other positive thing is that quality digital journalism is developing because of it and it’s keeping these news resources alive. I believe that it is a good medium for the younger audience but the older generation still believes print like; the newspaper or magazines, are still better. It’s now a generation thing.
         

            I just wonder if Facebook or Twitter will buy these news outlets…..


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