Scooping Where You Sleep

Twitter is the ultimate instant news source.

Reporters have the ability to tweet from anywhere with cell reception or Internet access, and most put this on-the-go capability to use every day.

An article from Poynter. reported that because journalists were tweeting and updating statuses about being arrested at Occupy Wall Street. While this use of social media is effective, some critics argue that the arrested journalists actually scooped their own newsrooms.

Although an official statement was released by the journalists' newsroom denying that the employees' tweets scooped employers, there is an idea that other news sources could become obsolete.

The biggest (actually, shortest) obstacle for Twitter's takeover of breaking news is 140 characters long. Limited to 140 characters, Twitter is heavy with headlines but short on content.

For a quick news fix, Twitter should be the go-to; however, other media, such as print and online newspapers, television, and radio, are better equipped for whole articles and in-depth pieces.

Photo by Creative Commons

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Media Evolution

This week I saw a video discussing the future of journalism. One comment made in this video by a professor at Columbia University was that no new media has ever truly replaced its predacessor.

I absolutely agree.

A common discussion topic these days is if print news will cease to exist due to the advances of Internet news. Some say yes and some are skeptical.

First there was the newspaper, followed by the radio, followed by television and finally the Internet came to be. Everytime a new media was introduced the fear was the older media would vanish.

We know this isn't necessarily the case. Television didn't make radio obsolete, not widely as used but definately not obsolete.

Instead I think media evolves from others instead of knocking them out. Check a car there is a radio in there and it gets used.

As for newspapers daily editions may not occur forever but I'd say no matter what the Sunday newspaper will always be there for enjoyment.

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Hulu: Television Without Limits

Everything in technology is advancing. The way we read is being advanced through Amazon's Kindle. The way we listen to music is always improving thanks to Apple. Now, thanks to Hulu, an online video service which viewers can watch their favorite shows on-demand, TV is now getting an upgrade.

This is for those who want to watch their favorite shows online, but do not have the time to. For instance, there are some BNR female students who like to watch "The Bachelor," which airs Monday nights on ABC. If one should be unfortunate to miss an episode, it's right there waiting for them the next morning on Hulu.

Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, released a statement telling consumers why Hulu is the way to go to watch their favorite shows. He argues three points which are simple to understand:

1. Traditional TV has too many ads.

2. Consumers want convenience.

3. Hulu is a great marketing force for consumers to decide what shows they like and want to throw out.

Traditional television will not go away. Hulu will just be another resource for those on-the-go to watch what they want, whenever they want. Convenience is endless, and for the consumer in today's age, it's a busy consumer's best friend.

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Who Really Reports The News?

In today's changing media, who really reports the news? Every morning when we wake up, we are positive the paper will be on our doorsteps full of news. When we turn on the evening news, we are sure there will be something to report. Where does it really come from?

If newspapers were to die, how would it affect our media landscape? Would that change what our communities know and seek to find out everyday? What is taking up the slack for the decreasing number of people who get their news from TV, print, and radio?

According to journalism.org and the Pew Research Center's project for excellence in Journalism, the answer is a moving target. Actually the tracking and the pursuit are nearly impossible. Newspapers are still the overwhelming choice as a traditional media vehicle inwhich audiences are getting their news. The study shows that eight out of ten news stories are repackaged or repeated from previously published information. Of the stories that were new, 95% came from traditional media.

Some of the findings include:

1. Of the 53 different news outlets, 12 did not produce any new or local content.

2. Of the six major new threads studied, only 17% actually contained new news content.

3. General interest newspapers only produced half of that.

4. Almost half of the newspaper stories studied were online rather than print.

5. 63% of new stories were initiated by the government officials.

Of the media vehicles, TV news was the most locally focused, and 80% of straight news accounts were written by local staffers.

What does all of this mean? When we look to our papers, TV news anchors and radio personalities, we assume they are reporting the news first. As time passes, it seems like every bit of "news" we absorb, isn't really "new" after all.

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Beating out the Competition

Are you using Twitter to its fullest potential?

According to Mashable's Jennifer Van Grove, there are five major ways Twitter is beating out other social media sites.

One way Twitter is becoming more accessible to users and non-users is with its new feature @anywhere. @anywhere will soon be made available to all website owners and publishers. The feature allows anyone to tweet about something directly from any website they are on.

Twitter users also have been using it to get news exactly when they want it. This is causing a competition between Twitter and television. Companies have been taking advantage of Twitter to air spoiler alerts. Whether this is a smart move or not, users are able to find out news and facts before they could find them out from television.

This is also the case with newsrooms. Tweets are an instant broadcast of news, whereas news that is produced via newspapers and newscasts take time to produce and broadcast. However, since tweets can be produced instantly, tweeters they don't go through the process of fact checking as thoroughly.

A third way Twitter is dominating competitive media sites is by offering multiple languages. Twitter is now available in French, Spanish, and Italian. By offering other languages, it gives non-English speaking users a chance to join the Twitter phenomenon.

A last way Twitter is rising above its competition is by appealing to celebrities, media organizations, and sports teams. Statistics have found that those who have a distinctive use for Twitter, tweet a lot more than those who use it for fun. By appealing to users with a specific purpose for tweeting, Twitter can continue to appeal to other users without ever losing popularity among the avid tweeters.

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Internet: A Stronger Force Than Realized

Hope for Haiti Now

What were your plans last Friday night? For over 36 million people, their plans included viewing a live broadcast of "Hope for Haiti Now," a Haitian earthquake relief benefit in which over 100 celebrities entertained viewers.

"Expect this to dominate both the Internet and the television tomorrow night," wrote Mashable's Samuel Axon, regarding Friday night's broadcast of "Hope for Haiti Now." Axon was right. The event aired all over the world via television and live streams on the Internet.

The big surprise was not how much the benefit raised, almost $60 million, but rather how many viewers it received. Sixteen million viewers tuned in to watch the event from their television screens. However, a whopping 20 million people caught the benefit online. Axon also stated that over 30 networks were involved in the "Hope for Haiti Now" broadcast, including MTV, CNN, CBS and other major networks.

The fact that more viewers caught the broadcast online than on television goes to show how much the times have changed. The Internet has come a long way already, but is still becoming an increasingly powerful force in terms of how they present the latest news to the world.

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