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Archive for social media

The internet is buzzing as Americans wait to see who will win the NY primary. Polls are showing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as the frontrunners while fans of Bernie Sanders are still hopeful. A steal is unlikely, but possible, depending on who you’re receiving your news from. Every major news outlet is tuned in to the primary with reporters and journalists updating the American people with a play-by-play.

Imagine this election before the time of Zuckerberg. Would Trumps antics been as talked about? Or how about Sarah Palin’s support speech on his behalf. Would the bird who interrupted Bernie Sander’s speech have gone viral?

Would the details of this election have been ignored or redacted? The details, the drama that we all hate to admit, we care about.

Networks aim to appeal to millennials. How do they do this? By meeting them, we’re they are at, Online. They’re live streaming on site, posting to Facebook, and driving traffic to their pages by interlocking all of their social media platforms. At one time, this may have been considered a ‘smart move’ but now, it’s the norm for how people digest their news. No longer do people solely turn to the New York Times, but instead, rely on their newsfeed to update them.

Facebook has changed political reporting. I would argue, for the better. It’s made politics more accessible and digestible for the average American — one who might not be up-to-date on all of the issues. With Facebook, the average person can interact with politics in a fresh way. They can view a Bernie Sanders add, watch a Hillary Clinton interview, and subsequently post a meme all while tracking the polls.

All of this, is done, on a single platform — facebook.

Facebook, has changed political reporting.  No longer can political reporters stay in this high brow bubble. They’ve had to adapt. Adaptation, has lead to a new type of coverage. I’ve used the word a lot, and I’m going to use it again — accessible.

This is what makes social media so golden. Political reporting is no longer for political savvy but the masses.

-J.

under: Comm 455, social media
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The decline of college newspapers

Posted by: | April 19, 2016 | No Comment |

Are on campus newspapers dying?

Possibly. Many colleges and universities are moving to an online model and dropping the print version of their news.

However, this shift may not be the best move as print newspapers are still a valuable resource for advertisers.

The question is are student media organizations able to adjust to the change in technology? At most college s the paper prints weekly, which means that stories have a slow release time. It is near to impossible to release breaking news through this platform. For online news organizations, they can quickly post and edit breaking news almost as it happens.

Is print news too old to focus on?  No. A college paper is something physical you can hand someone. With the large space that is the internet, it is hard to stand out. With physical news, a reader is given something tangible to keep, which would entice them to keep reading.

 

under: Comm 455, newspapers, social media
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That’s awkward. In 2000 the New York Times issued a correction on something that they had been doing wrong for over 100 years. The issue number n the paper was 500 editions too early.

This mistake seems like something the paper can laugh about but other times, mistakes are no laughing matter.

Sometimes a small punctuation error can tell an entirely different story:

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>BREAKING: Dutch military plane carrying bodies from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash lands in Eindhoven.</p>&mdash; The Associated Press (@AP) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AP/status/491943480407883777″>July 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

 

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>CLARIFIES: Dutch military plane carrying Malaysia Airlines bodies lands in Eindhoven.</p>&mdash; The Associated Press (@AP) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AP/status/491945631150514177″>July 23, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

 

But what happens when an error is made, and a correction needs to released. With instant postings like Twitter, corrections are easy to correct. However, newspapers would take a day to correct. Here are some examples of memorable corrections from 2012.

 

 

 

 

under: Comm 455, social media
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Andy Cohen

Posted by: | April 12, 2016 | No Comment |

 

“If you look at my life before I went into television, the struggle I went through coming out would be surprising to most people, given how comfortable and how out I am being the only late-night gay talk-show host.”

 

https://tvdeets.com/media/2016/02/andy-cohen.jpg

https://tvdeets.com/media/2016/02/andy-cohen.jpg

With hard work and determination, Andy Cohen created his own success story that continues to shine within the television industry. Cohen was born and raised in St. Louis and received a B.A. in broadcast journalism after graduating from Boston University. As of today, the media star holds the title as “the smartest man on TV” according to Details Magazine. Cohen is an Emmy Award-winning host, author and producer of several television hits among the network known as- Bravo. In addition, he is the host and executive producer of the “Watch What Happens Live” series that premieres during the late night hours. Throughout these episodes, Cohen interviews top celebrities such as Cher, Jennifer Lopez, Will Ferrell, and Oprah Winfrey.

With the help of his deep infatuation with the entertainment business, Cohen has created strong and long- lasting relationships with A-list celebrities and other inspiring media stars that have helped shape his career. As Cohen enjoys his view on top, he has also created careers for his reality TV stars. As the executive producers for the shows like “Project Runway”, “Top Chef”, “Flipping Out”, “Tabatha’s Salon Takeover” and my personal favorite, “The Real Housewives.” Each show has discovered and created a social platform for the reality television stars such as Kim Zolciak- Biermann, a member of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” who currently has over 1.9 millions followers on Instagram.

Andy Cohen was named as “25 Most Influential People in Television” according to TV Guide as well as Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business List. The television network, Bravo continues to grow while expanding Cohen’s career and discovering others.

 

To learn more about Andy Cohen, click here.

Quote: brainyquote

under: Comm 455, social media
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He said, she said

Posted by: | April 4, 2016 | No Comment |

Everyone tells stories. Whether we are telling a friend about what we saw on our morning commute or sharing an old family story that is passed down through the generations we all take part in storytelling. By definition storytelling is “the telling or writing of stories;” and the definition of a story is “a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse, designed to interest, amuse, or instruct the hearer or reader.” Both of these definitions are very broad and that allows all people to be considered a storyteller.

http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/b/tsblog/archive/2013/09/17/idealwares-nonprofit-social-media-decision-guide-three-perspectives.aspx

http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/b/tsblog/archive/2013/09/17/idealwares-nonprofit-social-media-decision-guide-three-perspectives.aspx

Social media has become a large contributor of storytelling. Facebook posts, tweets, and Instagram captions allow for anyone with an account to tell all of their friends and followers stories of what is going on in their lives. Hashtags are make it easy to find interesting stories about a plethora of things. Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show did a series of segments on his show where he asked viewers to tweet using certain hashtags such as #WeddingFails and #OneTimeInClass. These segments are incredibly hilarious and they are extremely relatable.

http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-1513635801/lucissaa_/photos

http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-1513635801/lucissaa_/photos

Twitter is definitely not the only media platform that allows for people to tell stories. Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, WordPress, and Youtube all allow for storytelling to thrive. Tumblr and Youtube both are great platforms for storytelling. Tumblr, a blogging website, allows for people to share stories, pictures, gifs, and videos with a large audience which often results in a story being spread to a large amount of people. Tumblr posts fall under many different categories; they can be humorous, awkward, happy, sad, angry, or any other emotion that the blogger wants. Youtube allows for an even larger audience to take part in storytelling as either the storyteller or the audience. Professional storytellers can share their stories as small animated or live action videos draw in the attention of viewers. Anyone with access to a computer and internet can go onto Youtube and find just about any story that they want to hear.

under: Comm 455, social media
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Backpack journalism

Posted by: | March 29, 2016 | No Comment |

With today’s technology, it is now possible to deliver breaking news stories with only using a phone ( and maybe a laptop.) This idea of backpack journalism means that a journalist can go into the field with only a few items, and deliver a news story to their bureau just as if they used expensive equipment.

I personally can say that backpack journalism is a great tool for journalists to have. For example, recently I made a video package using my phone as a camera.

There are a few things that one must consider before pursuing a story though

    1. Remember to charge your phone-This goes without saying, but if you don’t charge your phone, you have nothing to film with.
    2.  Don’t film sideways
    3. Make sure your shots are well lit. Phones do not have a powerful image señor compared to professional camcorders, so  you need to make sure your subject is not too dark or too bright.

With using small camcorders or phones it is now even easier to deliver breaking news, but there is still even more you can do with your phone. Check out my earlier blog post about how to use your phone to deliver video news live.

 

under: Comm 455, Local news, social media
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Above the fold

Posted by: | March 15, 2016 | No Comment |

On March 6th 2016,  Former First Lady Nancy Reagan passed away.

Here is what was on the cover major newspapers the next day.

Monday March 7th, 2016

Looking at top of each front page, called “above the fold” we can see the majority have a picture and a story about the passing of the first lady. The is one paper that does not, the Washington Post. Instead the Post’s top headline is that of a baseball stadium in Havana Cuba that is preparing for the arrival of President Obama for a baseball game with the Tampa Bay Rays facing the Cuban National Team.

Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 1.47.05 PM  above the fold

 

 

Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 1.47.19 PM  below the fold

 

From a graphics standpoint I think this is interesting for a few reasons. First, while other papers have Reagan on the cover, the fact that the Post does not makes it stand out. I see this as a good thing. In the world of digital media, the majority of the Post’s readership would have already known about the passing of the former first lady. The would not likely know about the the baseball game in Cuba.

One thing that is interesting is why the post about baseball is on the front page anyway? Since Washington is a big hub for politics, a story like this does make some sense as a top story, since President Obama will be traveling there. at the same time though, Nancy Reagan was a powerful person in Washington as well. As first lady, she kick started the “just say no” campaign in regards to drugs.

 

Overall I think the digital expansion of news online is affecting newspapers in an interesting way, starting with the front cover. News organizations have to adapt to the fact that a paper may not be the breaking source for news anymore, so that have to come up with ways to attract eyes to the page.

 

 

 

under: Comm 455, newspapers, social media
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Journalism isn’t dying

Posted by: | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

(The Gutenberg Parenthesis) – its an idea that everything after Gutenberg and the printing press was an interruption to the ‘original’ form of communication, word-of-mouth.

In Megan Garber’s blog post ‘ The Gutenberg Parenthesis: Thomas Pettitt on parallels between the pre-print era and our own Internet age’ she quotes Thomas Pettitt, a professor at the University of South Denmark .‘We are going forward to the past’ he says. He argues that books because they were written down, became more valid and were considered more truthful. Pettitt continues to argue that people no longer believe everything that’s written down. No longer are books or print for that matter the medium of truth. The conversation doesn’t divulge into why this is, but Pettitt believes it has to do with the ‘overlapping forms of communication’

In some instances I agree. When information was first written down, it was a way to add validity to what had already been heavily discussed among the people. It wasn’t a matter or believing or not believing the written news. People were already in the know.

The skepticism we see today is tied to the printing press and spread of knowledge. For example, if a searing expose’ goes to print, people instinctively seem to question it. The instinct to question could be considered journalism, and that makes the death of journalism fall into a gray area.

While I agree there is nothing new under the sun and trends are reinvented and seep in and out of generations, Pettit seems to question the power of print and journalism today.

“…the formal press will need somehow to find a place in this chaos of communication, where you can’t decide the level, the status, the value of the message by the form of the message…the press, will need to find some other signals – it’s got to find a way through this

My main issue is that print is tied in so closely with journalism. The argument of the death of print journalism is a well-documented decline; to link the death of print with the decline of journalism is problematic. I read the above as Pettitt saying the press, journalism, is in a state of doom because it’s not considered trustworthy and it can’t be controlled.

Journalism is evolving, especially with the popularity of social media. Not only is journalism evolving, but it has a further reach with the internet and how quickly information is able to be shared.
Broadcast journalism alone can lead to a citizen uprising. Journalism is powerful and people need news. News and journalism although it is changing, will never go away. To say that you can’t decide the value based on the form seems unfounded. The form absolutely can decide the value, especially if you are in tune with your audience.

With that said, word-of-mouth is ever-present in today’s society, and while it may be experiencing a ‘re-emergence’ it’s doing so hand-in-hand with journalism.

under: Comm 455, newspapers, social media
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isis-twitter-photo

Reports from the battlefield have come and gone with the changing times. From the runners of ancient Greece to carrier pigeons in World War I, information has been the most valuable asset a military force can acquire. In today’s world, people get war reporting on current engagement
s such as those occurring in Syria and Afghanistan from news networks around the world but how does the enemy get theirs? Some follow the news just like any other person but other avenues have been useISIS_Twitter_2d to report.

It is true that Isis watches how global powers report on the ongoing civil war in Syria but they have also utilized the internet to their advantage. Using social media platforms, specifically Twitter, the terrorist group has been able to relay valuable information such as intelligence on enemy positions quickly and efficiently. Their abuse of twitter is not limited to pure surveillance as they readily use the platform to recruit followers, perpetuate their message of hate and report on the war in their view.

According to this Brookings Institute census, Isis is using twitter quite a bit among other interesting findings.  For instance, there are an estimate 46,000-90,000 Isis supporter accounts accounts with the majority of accounts residing in Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Another number that became a commonality in the census pertained to the number of followers. According to the census, each active account had an average of 1,002 followers and 7.3 tweets per day. A key finding that sheds some light on the identities of Isis supporters pertains to language. The study findings suggest that one in every five Isis supporter accounts chose English as the default language.

“73 percent selected Arabic, 18 percent selected English, and 6 percent selected French…likely reflects ISIS’s target audience in the United States for inciting and harassing propaganda.”

isis-flag-750x400

Measures have been implemented to tackle this problem and coalition powers have been working with social media to track down these Isis supporters. Twitter alone suspended  more than 2,000 Isis accounts in one week alone in March 2015 just to give perspective on how readily these accounts communicate. Although these moves to combat this problem hasn’t come late, it is almost impossible to stop the spread of news on the internet let alone dealing with a daunting number of Isis supporter accounts. If one avenue of information flow fails, Isis will focus efforts and push their news and message through another platform continuing the endless game of cat and mouse.

 

 

under: Comm 455, newspapers, social media
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Humans have always been thirsty for news, but the way news is gathered and shared is changing every day. The velocity of journalism is changing in parallel with the evolving technological means that facilitate getting, sharing, and exchanging information.

After it used to take years for some news to travel outside of their edge, technology and the internet have been a big contribution to the way we get news. News gathering for journalists has become easier Tips-for-Twitter-Engagementin some ways,  although they still need to double the credibility of the sources. Journalists and anybody else can follow events as they are happening via videos, pictures, twitter and Facebook posts.  There is an overload of online sources, in addition to the fact that most people in developed countries have cellphones which makes the news at their finger tips.

The evolution of news from word of mouth to print to video, audio and back to word of mouth in the form of social media platforms, supports the argument Megan Garber makes in her article “The Gutenberg parenthesis: Thomas Pettitt on parallels between the pre-print era and our own Internet age”. She believes that between the era that followed Johannes Gutenberg, and era of the internet was “essentially an interruption to the broader arc of communication”.

 

under: Comm 455, newspapers, social media
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Live streaming the news

Posted by: | February 16, 2016 | No Comment |

In recent months I have have been getting alerts on my Facebook feed that look like this:

“CNN is LIVE” talking about the Zika virus

” ABC7-WJLA is LIVE” talking about this weekend’s storm

” NBC is LIVE” taking about the Grammys

These alerts have been popping up more frequently as various news organizations, shows, and celebrities embrace the new trend that is live streaming.

This concept isn’t new, yet beginning in April, live streaming became popular with apps such as Periscope or Meerkat. Then businesses like Facebook joined, and now:

I can just live stream writing my blog.

It’s really pretty cool.

But what does this have to do with journalism? A lot. Now journalists are able to reach viewers across the world without setting up a live feed or satellite truck. Journalists can deliver fast breaking news, with just a phone and a data signal. The same can be said for every day Americans. A typical person can record an event in their town so the world can see. This could, however, lead to problems such as users streaming content that is violent or even illegal. Yet, live streaming is very cool and will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

 

 

 

under: Comm 455, social media
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The Grammy’s is a night to celebrate musicians and award their accomplishments. Viewers tune in to see who wins, who looses, who gets snubbed, and my favorite – the fashion. Any of these things can become viral news in today’s day and age. But how does something at an event like the Grammy’s become newsworthy?

Cue: Taylor Swift.

viahttp://images.ok.co.uk/1455607805_taylor.jpg

Taylor Swift at Grammy’s 2016

Why did everyone know about Taylor Swift’s Grammy speech immediately after it happened and why did they continue to talk about it on almost every news outlet, radio show and blog. Most importantly,  why did we pay attention? Seriously, I’m not a fan but yet she had my attention.

Was it simply because so many people covered it? Was it the correspondents and newspapers that analyzed it? Or was it something a lot simpler? In chapter 4 of Mitchel Stephens History of News he makes the argument that in pre-literate societies, writing didn’t matter. News is fast and writing was slow. Slow, because writing on clay tablets took a lot more time than telling your neighbor what happened.

 

I’m a strong believer in the saying ‘There’s nothing new under the sun’. With that phrase in mind, I began to question the way that I thought about news and how it spreads. Why was I immediately in the loop about Taylor Swift, and artist who don’t follow?

 

The answer is simple, word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth in today’s society looks differently than it did in pre-literate societies, but operates quite the same. One person tells another person, it’s overheard and it’s shared. In this day and age, it’s the sharing of a post, Tweeting, re-tweeting, instagramming, more simply put – social media. Yes, you can argue that all of those are forms of writing, but it’s not the writing that makes something news, but the sharing of such. It’s the people tuning in, finding it interesting, and sharing it online in mass amounts. It’s someone in your office talking about it because they heard about it, you overhearing, and checking it out.

 

So, while writing is important, it’s the impact of the writing and it’s reach that makes it truly newsworthy.

-J.

under: Comm 455, social media
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