A recent news summit highlighted the ways by which social media is slowly penetrating the world of journalism. S Mallik finds that these sites have the ability to influence people and change the way the world perceives news
Every minute of every day, well almost, we spend scanning media posts. In the few seconds of respite that we get in our neck breaking job schedule we spend it hunting for newsfeed on out smart phones rather than talking to the person sitting right next to us. Social media, as Raheel Khursheed, head of news, politics and Government, Twitter India, pointed out, today is just not restricted to catching up with long distance friends or being up to date with worldly affairs. If channelised properly, it can easily and quite effectively, be used as harbingers of change in the way news is dissipated.
In what may be called a one-of-a-kind gathering of media professionals, Twitter techs, social media enthusiasts and curious minds came together to discuss, explore and look for ways to expand the reach. Maria Ressa, founder of Rappler, a social news network based off the Philippines, explained how she used the Twitter platform to generate awareness and rush immediate help when typhoon Haiyan struck this SouthEast Asian country in 2013. “It was through constant tweets that we tracked where someone was stranded, where people needed help and where rescue teams had to be rushed,” said Ressa, who is a journalist herself, having worked with CNN for many years.
Through a presentation, she explained how a message is developed and spread in social media and also from people to people. “There is a limit to the number of people you can physically stay in touch with. With social sites, that number multiplies to about a hundred times. Not only can you use it to spread news but you can also use it to learn and understand the finer aspects of a subject,” she said explaining how she used #budgetwatch to educate the Twitterati everything there is to know about a budget. “We made it visually appealing by incorporating graphics like ladders and steps,” she added, laser pointed at the presentation slide.
With over three decades of journalism experience, it took Ressa a lot of strength to build Rappler from scratch. And she credits a chunk of her success to social networking sites. “Today it is not just about breaking news, the generation has shifted to more information. And the faster you make it available to them, the better. You do not necessarily have to wait to broadcast in on a news channel or a news portal, social media is on its way to becoming the next big place to hunt for news,” she said.
Kawaljit from NDTV agreed. According to him there is no point in withholding any piece of information or news. “If there is breaking news and the reporter has some footage or report it has to go out. There is no point in waiting for an ongoing ad or news flash to end to run it. Just put it up on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter or upload it on your own website to get the first mover advantage,” he pointed out.
There is a larger picture that he shared with us, in terms of the level of concentration that most people have when they surf news on their smart phones as compared to their desktops. “Attention span differs from a desktop to a phone. One will access news on a desktop maybe once or twice a day but not more than 10 to 20 minutes. Whereas one will check in on news updates every hour or so, on their phones. Besides they do not require detailed news, they want to get the headlines, highlights and developments,” he elaborated.
Khursheed, on the other hand, was of the opinion that social media is penetrating into the newsroom and the time is not far when it will probably give news portals, channels and websites a run for their time. He announced that Twitter had already started functioning in six Indian regional languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil and Kanada. “In the next few months we will be developing other languages as well so that Twitter is able to reach out to a wider audience,” he surmised.
We are already standing on a digital platform where almost everything - from shopping to paying bills, taxi fares and from recharging to bank transactions - is on the virtual world. News reaches us faster through our handset and we form a relation not with the paper but with the speed of broadband. In these circumstances it is just a matter of time before social media websites become the next big news hub.