According to ‘PR Daily’ over 50 percent of people have learned about breaking news via social media as opposed to traditional news sources. Now, if you followed my previous post on Citizen Journalism (here) you may well see a pattern emerging. I am a strong believer that in future years we will be waving goodbye to traditional media just like we did with the VCR and flared jeans.
Above is a fine example of the power of social media. On 16th November 2010, Clarence House broke the news of Prince William’s engagement to Kate Middleton via Twitter. The post received over 1,200 retweets before the news broke across traditional media. The spark of interest and word of mouth is replicated by retweets and the spread of news was arguably much faster than via traditional methods. In this example, the news of the engagement was given a far more personal and special feel, breaking directly from the Royal Family, so if social media is good enough for Clarence House, then it’s good enough for me.
Moving away from weddings, royals and lovey dovey tweeters however, the Boston Bombings provide an eye opening example of the sheer power and subjectivity of social media. The attack back in 2013 actually saw traditional news sources relying on social media to inform their coverage and content via videos, pictures, tweets, blogs and many more mediums.
Furthermore, when the FBI released images of the suspected bomber, hundreds flocked to social media, searching through countless images and videos to put their detective skills to the test. The most damaging consequence of this, however, resulted in a miss-identification of the Boston Bomber after a rumour sparked speculation of missing Indian-American student. To the horror and dismay of his parents, who had not seen or heard of him for over a month, his name was flashed all over the internet. Needless to say the speculation that spread predominantly through social media caused tremendous pain to his family and friends.
What started off as an act of well-meaning resulted in devastation which ultimately highlights the unreliability and the darker side of the power of social media. Unknowingly to all those who tweeted, Facebooked or Google+’ed, their words were to spread the globe in a matter of moments soon to become the foundations of subjective main stream news stories , resulting in a complete miss-identification of the Boston Bomber which brings me to the pros and cons of social media reporting:
Pros:
- Immediacy
- Stories Disseminated quickly
Cons:
- Inaccuracy
- Reliability
J For Journalism 