DigitalNewsAlerts provide brief articles that discuss the latest technological trends, tools and devices. Ranging from social media posts to website and blog articles, this category covers an array of digital platforms.
Once upon a time it was easy to differentiate between the news industry’s highly edited output and casual conversations and entertainment among friends and family; but online has blurred these distinctions considerably.
Social Media
Social media channels have become the go-to place for news reporting and interpretation, from the death of Bin Laden to Arab Spring uprisings – it has played an instrumental role in relaying and shaping news events, according to studies conducted on over 50.000 respondents surveyed in one such survey. A recent survey also discovered that 50 percent of these respondents learned about events via social media first, before hearing them reported by news networks or television channels.
Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are considering offering ads-free versions of their popular apps with subscription fees, according to reports by The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Twitter recently also removed headlines on tweets with links in favor of posts that look nearly indistinguishable from photos.
Business & Finance
Traditional news outlets were slow to adapt to the digital revolution, leading to their revenues declining and layoffs and closures of small publications across the nation. Jobs across all of journalism are being eliminated rapidly – from reporters and editors to lithographers and delivery workers. There has also been an upsurge in consolidation between news organizations as larger conglomerates such as Gannett or Advance Publications buy smaller papers outright and reduce them in size – this trend seems likely to continue given many organizations are now facing financial difficulties.
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report is an annual comparative survey of global trends in news consumption and the media industry, supported by 18 funders including Google News Initiative.
Technology
Technology has dramatically transformed the news industry and will have lasting ramifications. Digital tools allow news outlets to make predictions of potential story popularity that can influence editorial considerations; and real-time monitoring of online stories allows news organizations to identify which ones are garnering clicks, shares and likes from readers.
Reader expectations for exceptional content and user experiences have placed pressure on media companies to become more data-informed, which has caused some to reposition themselves as “technology companies with news products”, investing in data science augmentation capabilities as a way forward (Fenton 2016). As a result, technology no longer stands as neutral ground in relation to the news industry (Fenton 2016).
