Christopher Jones

NYC Media
January 22, 2015
The Impact of Social Media On Journalism
The full version of Twitter has been around since 2006 and became one of the top
social media platforms in 2008 with a whopping 10 million tweets per quarter. Up until
that point, journalists had not been regularly incorporating social media into publications
and every day routine, but the emergence of Twitter changed that completely. Although
not every journalist or reporter loves the idea of and uses of Twitter, they do understand
that it is necessary to not only keep up with the times, but also to promote their work and
keep in touch with their audiences on a platform that is free for every user, and that
makes them most accessible. Twitter has had a profound effect on the field of journalism
by connecting the journalists and publications to their respective audiences effortlessly
and also by serving as a gateway for open praise and criticism among them. Although
Twitter is not the only social media site that has had this effect on journalism (i.e.
Facebook and LinkedIn), it is by far the most influential and will serve as the blueprint
for social media outlets to come in the future. When asked about their use and opinion of
Twitter and other social media platforms, many prominent journalists from top
publications such as The New York Times and many others applauded Twitter for its
accessibility and overall usefulness to them, however some were critical and had strong
opinions related to transitioning to have social media play a bigger role in their
publications. However these reporters and journalists may feel about social media outlets,
Twitter specifically is necessary in the world of journalism and is integral for not only the
success of themselves, but also for the success of their publications as well.

Christopher Jones
NYC Media
January 22, 2015
Due to the emergence of social media in addition to the mergence of smart phones
and apps, journalism and reporting has taken more of a digital approach then in the past.
Many publications have had to deal with this transition and have handled it differently.
For example, the newer publications such as Bloomberg News and The Daily Beast have
had an easier time with this transition due to the fact that they are an online only
publication. Publications that started out as paper have had a harder time adjusting, but
have managed to make it a key resource for their news now. The New York Times is an
example of a paper first publication easing into their transition in to digital media and
social media. NY times felt like to me like a newspaper that had a big presence digitally
and on social media, New York Times Ombudsman Margaret Sullivan said when asked
about this transition. Now it feels like a digital media company that puts out a
newspaper. The New York Times is now very prominent digitally and on social media,
especially Twitter. The publications official Twitter handle, @TheNewYorkTimes, has
over 165.9 thousand tweets and about 14.9 million followers. Not everyone who works
for the New York Times has had such an easy time with the transition to social media
however. Typically, the older the reporter or journalist, the harder the transition is, and the
more critical they are of it. We are mostly a digital media company. But that doesnt
mean we arent vulnerable, New York Times columnist David Carr said regarding the
publications transition to digital and social media. News has and always will be a list.
Texts, Twitter, Facebook, papers, all lists. If you are too busy pimping out media to the
world then Im worried people arent consuming it. Carr was also critical of the popular
social media app Snapchat that utilizes disappearing media to entice its users to send

Christopher Jones
NYC Media
January 22, 2015
pictures to each other knowing that each photo will only last for 3-10 seconds. Snapchat
is the first time Ive felt demographically impaired, Carr said about the app. Snapchat
stories arent narratives. Its just you going by things and not experiencing them. It doesnt
satisfy my need for narrative, Carr continued. Im 58 and happily married so Im not
gonna use things like Tinder (social media dating app) and Snapchat. Despite his less
than glowing critique of certain aspects of social media, Carr has indeed learned to use
social media to his advantage in terms of communicating with his audience as well as
promoting his work.
Huge publications such as the New York Times are not the only people that have
had to learn how to best utilize social media. Freelance reporters have also had to deal
with the same transition and figure out a way to best utilize social media. I hate
Facebook, but I love Twitter, freelance Reporter Bart Gellman stated when asked about
how social media has affected his work. I learn stuff from my followers all the time
either in response to something they read or just randomly. Gellman explained that
Twitter offered something that Facebook failed to offer, the power to simultaneously
communicate with endless amounts of people, most of which you do not know. Twitter
accesses the power and wisdom of crowds, Gellman said when asked why he preferred
Twitter rather than Facebook. I remember not too long ago I was oversees and found this
piece of metal in a wreckage. I thought that it might be something cool so I brought it
home and had it placed in a protective case. I still didnt know what it was so I took a
picture of it and tweeted it to my followers. Within minutes I had a response from a
random guy telling me what it was. The wisdom of the crowd, according to Aristotle, is

Christopher Jones
NYC Media
January 22, 2015
the collective opinion of a group of individuals rather than that of a single expert. A
large group of combined answers in most cases has been found to be better and more
reliable than one answer given by any given individual in the group. Twitter essentially
follows this theory and journalists and reporters utilize its ability to connect them to a
vast group of people to not only promote their work and their ideas, but also sometimes
to gather information themselves.
Social media in this day and age is considered a necessary asset of journalists and
reporters for many reasons. However, how they decide to ultimately utilize social media
is completely up to them. There are many facets of social media, which give the journalist
or reporter a wide variety of ways to use it. The Washington Post did a study to see how
journalists are using social media and what they think the best ways to utilize it are. The
results of the study can be seen within the following chart:

Christopher Jones
NYC Media
January 22, 2015
The study shows that while journalists are using social media in many ways to enhance
their careers including using it to enhance credibility, cover more news, and decrease
workload, there are three main qualities of social media that over 50% of journalists
agree impact their field the most. 80.3% of journalists agreed that it can help promote the
journalist and their work. This is a no brainer. With the help of social media, journalists
are now able to share their work with endless amounts of people all with the simple push
of a button. In the days before social media was in the forefront of journalism and media,
people had a much harder time being able to reach such a large number of people at one
time from all types of demographics. 69.2% of journalists agree that social media allows
them to be more engaged with their audience. Not only does social media connect you to
a large quantity of people, but it also allows you to communicate with and engage your
audience in ways that before were not possible. Finally, 62% of journalists agreed that
social media leads to faster reporting. Stories are only a button away with social media,
which allows journalists to be able to send out stories at any time no matter where they
are.
In conclusion, the use of social media has propelled journalism and the media to
new heights. With access to greater readership and wider demographics, faster news
delivery, enhanced credibility and greater productivity, paper-only media organizations
may find themselves going the way of the dinosaur. Large traditional media
organizations, like the Washington Post or New York Times, may have initially met with
internal hesitation to do things differently, but have obviously recognized the immediate
benefit to such changes. Such benefits can be seen in greater access by the public to

Christopher Jones
NYC Media
January 22, 2015
news websites, daily Internet news releases, quicker news turn-around and updates and
even enhanced media data storage.

Christopher Jones
NYC Media
January 22, 2015
Sources
1) Three charts that explain how U.S. journalists use social media, 5/6/14,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/05/06/three-chartsthat-explain-how-u-s-journalists-use-social-media/
2) The Wisdom of Crowds, 2/15/04,
https://www.randomhouse.com/features/wisdomofcrowds/Q&A.html
3) Margaret Sullivan, Interview, 1/13/15
4) David Carr, Interview, 1/13/15
5) Bart Gellman, Interview, 1/14/15