SLIDE 1 Social media and news
How social media is affecting the business and practice of journalism
- Drivers for change
- Journalistic examples
- Challenges and research questions
@nicnewman
April 2012
SLIDE 2 Journalist with radio, TV and online 10 years developing new digital products for BBC News, BBC Sport
Visiting Fellow Reuters Institute writing on new technology and the future of journalism + Senior Research Fellow at City University
SLIDE 3
London riots – organising riots
SLIDE 4
LONDON RIOTS
SLIDE 5
London riots – tracking riots
SLIDE 6
London riots – news comes to me
SLIDE 7
London riots – solidarity of response
SLIDE 8 Age of the active citizen
“The Mass Media revolution 50 years ago delivered the world to our TVs, but it was a one-way trip – all we could do was press
- ur nose against the glass and watch. In
contrast, Personal Media is two-way trip and we not only can, but also expect to be able to answer back.”
Paul Saffo futurologist
SLIDE 9 Changing dynamics
media
publish and share
SLIDE 10
Personal + social = disruption
SLIDE 11 Key questions
- What is the role of journalists?
- How are traditional media organisations adapting?
- Is this affecting the quality of information?
- How does social media affect diversity?
SLIDE 12
Journalistic response
SLIDE 13 Why journalists care about social media
- Telling better stories –using collective intelligence to
improve journalism
- Building engaged communities – to drive loyalty and
repeat usage
- Distributing content – using networks to market
articles, videos etc
SLIDE 14
News as conversation
“If you can open your site up, and allow other voices in, you get something that’s more engaged, more involved – and actually, I think, journalistically better.” Alan Rusbridger, Editor Guardian
SLIDE 15
Networked journalism and live blogs
SLIDE 16
BBC – User Generated Hub
Key Problem: How to surface the best comments, videos and pictures from a variety of sources in real time and then how to verify them.
SLIDE 17 From: New York Times photoblog
How reliable is news in social networks?
SLIDE 18 How reliable is news in social networks?
“The Web 2.0 revolution has peddled the promise of bringing more truth to more people, but every week a new revelation calls into question the accuracy reliability and trust of the information we get from the internet”
Andrew Keen ‘The Cult of the Amateur’
SLIDE 19 How representative is news in social networks?
Very active users 7% produce 80% of content Active focussed on news
15X bigger
52% users produce most content News is sideshow
SLIDE 20 Case studies: Nick Kristof New York Times
Key Problem: How to quickly surface the best comments and work out which
investigating further.
SLIDE 21
Case studies: Jemima Kiss – technology reporter
Key Problem: Use ‘brains trust’ to help source and validate stories – how to go beyond Twitter and media types like video
SLIDE 22 Case studies: Sky News - Neal Mann
Key Problem: How to identify quickly the key influencers on any particular story, so they can get inside information or interview them for their news
SLIDE 23 Journalistic needs in summary
- Alerts on breaking news (predicting news)
- Ways of tracking trends (now and over time)
- Ways of verifying information in social networks
- Answers to specific questions about a story or
suggestions for interviews
- Reactions to their most recent article, TV or radio piece
SLIDE 24 Research challenges
- How to manage the exploding nature of social media
- How to effectively filter the content
- How to verify content
“Social media is transforming the way we do journalism” Liz Heron, New York Times”
SLIDE 25 THANK YOU
Nic Newman
nic.newman@gmail.com
