GROWING IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON NEWS WORLD

With the improvement of social media platforms and tools, the new and faster channels have been created to deliver and consume news. Now people expect to receive news directly and expect consistent updates of developments. Per a new survey by Pew Research Center, most U.S. adults – 62% – get news on social media, and 18% do so often. (Via @pewresearch) 

It’s a significant growth compared to 2012 when it was reported that 49% of U.S. adults reported seeing news on social media. Two-thirds of Facebook users (66%) get news on the site, nearly six-in-ten Twitter users (59%) get news on Twitter, and seven-in-ten Reddit users get news on that platform. On Tumblr, the figure sits at 31%, while for the other five social networking sites it is true of only about one-fifth or less of their user bases. (Via @pewresearch) Most readers now prefer online news and blogs to a print edition of newspapers and magazines.  

      Through social media and search engines news agencies have an ability to predict and control what users may want to read. This is significantly influencing the direction and practice of journalism, making the social media more valuable tool for journalists in their newsgathering, reporting and audience engagement.

   Another important revolution in news world is live stream broadcasting on different social media platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter. "A generation ago, before a video got disseminated to the public, there was some editing, some vetting," said legal expert Paul DerOhannesian. "There were news editors, producers to review what went out on the evening news. That doesn't exist today." (Via @TWCNewsCNY)

In a changing reality, social media is going beyond the regular news, it has been effectively also used during emergency situations and crisis. More and more government agencies, fire and police departments rely on Twitter to alert citizens of crisis or danger. In 2013 Twitter launched Twitter Alerts, a new feature that brings us one step closer to helping users get important and accurate information from credible organizations during emergencies, natural disasters or moments when other communications services aren’t accessible. 

 A new reality of social media's power came out during the recent presidential elections, in terms of delivering and consuming of news. 2016 Presidential elections were the indication of the undeniable fact that social media are going far just being a platform for exchanging information. It had a game-changing effect on political reality and elections. From Twitter to Reddit, social media communities played a large role in gathering voters for the 2016 election and launching policy discussions and the tone of political debates.

Social media is a very effective tool, particularly in engaging young people. More young voters increasingly get their news from social media. According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January, 35 percent of respondents between ages 18 and 29 said that social media was the “most helpful” source of information about the presidential campaign. For those aged 30 to 49, social media ranked third, behind cable TV and news websites. (Via @pewresearch) 

The ability to reach the millennial demographic is an important component to campaign efforts. And the reason why is simply because young adults are shifting more of their attention online to social networks. Candidates are naturally incorporating social media into their campaigns to stand out to millennials.

According to research from Ipsos Mori, for 18-24-year-olds social media has the potential to have much more impact. More than a third (34%) of this group indicated that reading something on social media would influence their vote, second only to televised debates. This is yet another reason why the presidential candidates are increasing their ad spending budgets on social networks.

Another study found that 41 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 25 had participated in political discussion or activity online. These included sharing a video from a presidential candidate or tweeting about world events. These same individuals were much more likely to vote than those who weren’t as engaged.