{"id":27,"date":"2018-05-15T20:01:12","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T20:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/schultzhe21\/?p=27"},"modified":"2018-05-15T20:01:12","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T20:01:12","slug":"research-project-communication-technology-in-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/schultzhe21\/2018\/05\/15\/research-project-communication-technology-in-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Project: Communication Technology in Journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people think of technology as an entity that has shaped the world humans live in. \u00a0Technology can be thought of as a positive and negative in that aspect. However, not many relate technology to the way that human connect, interact and communicate with one another. \u00a0Through new communication technology, socializing with people\u2014near and far\u2014has become easier than ever, specifically through social media sites. Additionally, this new-found source of communication has evolved the way people receive their news. \u00a0Newspapers and magazines are, essentially, the thing of the past. More and more social media users are looking to social media\u2014specifically Twitter\u2014to find the latest trends, events and worldly news.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twitter was originally started as a podcasting company\u2014Odeo. \u00a0The company switched tactics after Apple\u2014a company that specializes in creating quality cellphones and laptops\u2014scared Odeo away from podcasts, when they began releasing podcasts on iTunes, a music sales site. \u00a0Following the scare, Odeo launched their social media website used for microblogging\u2014also known as Twitter\u2014in 2006 as \u201ca social network and real-time communication service,\u201d according to Social Media Today\u2019s article, <\/span>Twitter 101: What is Twitter Really About<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0The social network was used as a quick way for organizations to share and find information. \u00a0Twitter is popular, because of its brief bouts of text allowed for users. At its start, Twitter only allowed 140 character to express thoughts. \u00a0Today, the number has increased to provide more information. \u201c<\/span>Twitter was able to disrupt traditional point-to-point messaging systems like email by providing this one-to-many interface for rapid content delivery and search,\u201d explains Social Media Today. \u00a0\u201cBut Twitter has evolved from more than just a real-time communication tool into one of the world’s leading sources of social discovery and newsworthy events.\u201d With this newly discovered form of receiving news, journalist had to adapt to meet the expectations and demands of news enthusiasts and social media users.<\/span><\/p>\n

Journalism has become a dying career choice for students. \u00a0The field has received a lot of bad publicity due to constant need for journalists to find the next big story, rushing to get information or jumping to conclusions. \u00a0The stories that are published become public for everyone to see, so when there are misconstrued or misinformed articles published, the public feels that their right to know has been compromised. \u00a0With the need for fast journalism and the ability to give information quickly without, necessarily, needing to publish a full article, Twitter became a new way for journalists to give their viewers what they want. <\/span><\/p>\n

Millenials are essentially changing the way people are getting their news. \u00a0Twitter has evolved with this generation of social media users to accommodate their news needs, while providing a platform for journalists to reach these users. \u00a0Twitter has allowed for a closer connection with users and the media, which has given greater insight to what readers are looking for. The article <\/span>Twitter, Journalism and Affective Labour<\/span><\/i> explains this concept further.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe development of an organic relationship with followers, the emergence of stronger bonds between core groups that then become communities, the extension of care and help to the network, are all evidence of the importance of this biopolitical productivity and point to the construction of a new and potentially more radical sociopolitical role for journalism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The relationship built between Twitter users and journalists has created a network and community that has rebuilt the desire for news. \u00a0This sense of connection has renewed news and the journalistic field, which is restoring faith in the art.<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, Twitter has become a source for political movements and awareness for crisis situations. \u00a0For example, recently there was a \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d movement, which was plastered all over the social media network. \u00a0Through the use of hashtags, which devices used to link topics together with keywords or phrases, the movement was able to expand to the world within hours. \u00a0Furthermore, in 2011 Wisconsin found itself in the midst of a political movement about labor laws. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to <\/span>\u201cTime, place, technology: Twitter as an information source in the Wisconsin labor protests,\u201d there were more than 775,000 tweets with the hashtag #wiunion that circulated around Twitter in a three week time period. \u00a0The article also addressed the use of mobile versus computer usage. The data found from the movement said that mobile users of Twitter were more likely to be present at the protest, opposed to computer users. In addition, \u201cmobile users post fewer URLs overall; however, when they do, they are more likely to link to traditional news sources and to provide additional hashtags for context,\u201d explains the article. \u00a0Ultimately, all source linkage<\/span>\u2014mobile or stationary\u2014will decline as the movement continues, or ages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twitter\u2019s prominence in news has also changed the amount of news people receive every day. \u00a0News is no longer a once-a-day entity, but is something seen hourly\u2014sometimes even live as events take place. \u00a0\u201c<\/span>Reporters make minute-by-minute decisions on what they publish and who reads it, versus the old days when a small group of editors held that power over what went into the next day\u2019s paper,\u201d explains an Illinois News Bureau journal. \u00a0News has developed from a morning read, to an entity of immediacy when something arises. For example, there have been a lot of mass shootings in the news lately. A more highly publicized shooting was the Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy. \u00a0The event took place on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people were fatally wounded in the mass shooting, with others being critically injured. This was one of the deadliest school shootings\u2014some even calling it a massacre. During this horrifying event, news mediums were taking to Twitter to provide live coverage of what was taking place at the school. \u00a0This gave people around the country access to information about the students, staff and gunman at the school. Twitter has enabled journalists to keep readers up-to-date with around 140 characters and a click of a button.<\/span><\/p>\n

Journalism has always been a pretty straightforward job. \u00a0They are suppliers of news and facts<\/span>\u2014and they are writers and editors. \u00a0The use of Twitter as an additional news source has allowed journalists to expand their job description from writers and editors to social media experts and real-time reporters. \u00a0Nowadays, social media is a job of its own, but there are some newsroom and companies that rely on their journalists to do the jobs in addition to their long list of responsibilities. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This can be a major struggle for some journalists who have been in the industry for many years. \u00a0\u201cConstantly having to adapt to new and improved technology is part of the job,\u201d says Carrie Mantey, editor of Green Industry Pros magazine at AC Business Media. \u201cBut I\u2019ve been in the industry for almost 30 years, and social media is just another job I have to do. It\u2019s just more work.\u201d \u00a0Journalists have a lot of responsibility, so it can be hard to balance their jobs as traditional news writers and editors\u2014adding in social media work can be overwhelming. Often times, news organizations will add in new jobs for the social media position. This can help alleviate some of the stresses of adding on job responsibilities. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although there are some journalists who feel that social media is hindering news, there are others who feel that it is helping the industry whole<\/span>\u2014despite the added work involved. Katie Therian, marketing manager at Topcon Agriculture, says she does the job of two\u2014journalists and social media\u2014but finds that Twitter allows the company to get immediate feedback from the viewers and Twitter users. \u201cThe world of hard copy newspapers and magazines is in the past,\u201d says Therian. \u201cIt\u2019s time to embrace the resources that we are given.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the evolution Twitter has seen from social media site to a focus on news, the social media site has seen an increase in the number of users on the platform. This increase includes reporters and news businesses, but also people looking to find news from the non-traditional sources. <\/span>\u201cTwitter provides an information distillery for journalists and all consumers because you can tailor what you follow instead of weeding through a thicket of news each day\u201d (News Bureau). The social media platform has become a more accurate way for journalists to view their user insights and calculate the reach they have on the public. \u201cJournalists like to know that someone is reading their work, and Twitter provides the instant gratification of building a following around the globe.\u201d Additionally, journalists and news sources are able to decide who can see what they are posting, which takes their reach beyond just their subscribers. Furthermore, subscribers are able to retweet and share the information the deem important, interesting or newsworthy, which in turn creates a greater spread of information. Twitter has become the ultimate source of new communication technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another unique influence Twitter has on journalists is the ability for writers and editors to create a name and platform for themselves away from their employers. This is important, because journalists are likely to work for several news organizations in the course of their career. Twitter serves as a permanent portfolio that future employers can access to determine if the person is right for the job. Additionally, freelance journalistic work has become increasingly popular as a result of Twitter\u2019s growing news appeal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The advantage Twitter has over other social media sites is the amount of reach it has. People look at the number of users on Facebook versus Twitter, and assume that Facebook would be the logical choice to post a news article. However, the Berkeley Advanced Media Institute would argue that opposite. <\/span>\u201cTwitter has a much wider <\/span>reach<\/span><\/i>\u2014everything you post can potentially be seen by the whole world. While Facebook has a \u201cshare\u201d function that lets people repeat things others have said, it\u2019s not used nearly as often as Twitter\u2019s \u201cretweet\u201d function\u201d (Twitter for Journalists). The article continues by explaining that Twitter is a news and information amplifier, which is why the spread of information is so much greater than other social media platforms\u2014the site boosts information, rather than replacing it with new information.<\/span><\/p>\n

Technology has become a part of human society. It is no longer a surprising new concept that people are constantly buzzing about. New creations are made, but the excitement and hype over a once incredibly amazing entity has died down. This is not because the products created are not innovative and exceptional, but because humans are used to living in a world of technology. Particularly, a world of communication technology. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since the creation of social media, humans have seen a change in how people are interacting with each other. Specifically in terms of news, humans have seen a rise, fall and rise-again. Twitter has aided in the rehabilitation of news, and how people are receiving their information. Journalists have adapted to this new form news production\u2014some begrudgingly, but others willingly\u2014and have seen an impressive spike in people demanding more news. New communication technology has been beneficial in many ways in which humans interact, but has been especially helpful to the dying profession and entity, which is news.<\/span>\f<\/span><\/p>\n

Work Cited<\/b><\/p>\n

Chamberlain, C. (2015). <\/span>News Bureau | ILLINOIS<\/span><\/i>. [online] News.illinois.edu. Available at: <\/span>https:\/\/news.illinois.edu\/view\/6367\/267046<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Groshek, & Tandoc. (2017). The affordance effect: Gatekeeping and (non)reciprocal journalism on Twitter. <\/span>Computers in Human Behavior,<\/span><\/i> 66<\/span><\/i>, 201-210.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hacker, S. and Seshagiri, A. (2014). <\/span>Twitter for Journalists – Berkeley Advanced Media Institute<\/span><\/i>. [online] Berkeley Advanced Media Institute. Available at: <\/span>https:\/\/multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu\/tutorials\/twitter\/<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lee, Kim, & Sang. (2017). How do journalists leverage Twitter? Expressive and consumptive use of Twitter. <\/span>The Social Science Journal,<\/span><\/i> 54<\/span><\/i>(2), 139-147.<\/span><\/p>\n

Siapera, E. and Iliadi, I. (2015). Twitter, Journalism and the Affective Labour. <\/span>Sur le Journalisme<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veenstra, A., Iyer, N., Delwar Hossain, M. and Park, J. (2014). Time, place, technology: Twitter as an information source in the Wisconsin labor protests. <\/span>Computers in Human Behavior<\/span><\/i>, 31, pp.65-72.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeevi, D. and Zeevi, D. (2013). <\/span>Twitter 101: What is Twitter Really About?<\/span><\/i>. [online] Social Media Today. Available at: <\/span>https:\/\/www.socialmediatoday.com\/content\/twitter-101-what-twitter-really-about<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most people think of technology as an entity that has shaped the world humans live in. \u00a0Technology can be thought of as a positive and negative in that aspect. However, not many relate technology to the way that human connect, interact and communicate with one another. \u00a0Through new communication technology, socializing with people\u2014near and far\u2014has … <\/p>\n

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