There’s no escaping the rapidly expanding role of social media in our lives. It is becoming almost impossible to go through an entire lecture without spotting at least half of your class checking Twitter or Facebook for updates every five minutes — yourself included. But social media is not only affecting your ability to pay attention to your chem lecture, it is also changing how you get news. College students’ increasing dependence on social media is causing more and more of them to no longer rely on traditional news outlets to stay informed.
A study from the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda showed that students no longer feel a loyalty to mainstream news outlets. College students are now looking toward social media to inform them of international and local events. Dr. Susan Moeller, the leader of the study, said in a blog post, “information of all kinds comes in an undifferentiated wave to them [the students in the study] via social media.”
It’s not hard to see this trend of “social media news” developing in our own personal lives. Whether it’s through statuses, shared photos, or Buzzfeed articles, social media is the center of activity whenever major events occur. Social media shows not only the facts of the event occurring but also the reactions of those closest to you.
The rise of social media as a news provider also allows for commentary from not only friends but also public figures, when at one point in time before social media, we would not know their opinion. During the President’s annual State of the Union, numerous notable characters in the public eye included their view of the President’s speech. Ronan Farrow, a former U.S. Global Youth Issues envoy who will soon have his own show on MSNBC, was one of the many youth who covered the speech through his twitter account:
With the increased dependence on social media providing news, media outlets are being forced to almost reinvent the way they deliver news. Even student newspapers are turning to online databases to reach their audiences. Newspapers from Georgetown to the University of Georgia are reducing their number of editions a week and increasing online efforts.
Florida State’s own FSView, the major school newspaper on campus, has branched out to social media to reach readers. They not only have hard copies of the newspaper throughout campus, but they also update their website, Twitter, and Facebook page with new information constantly. Along with the FSView, FSU’s fashion publication Swatch Magazine is almost completely online-based. Swatch Magazine only has one completely published version of the magazine a year, but uses their website and blog to regularly update viewers on the newest fashion trends.
With the continually growing role of social media on an average college student’s life becoming ever more prominent, it was only a matter of time before students began to rely on it for their news. Whether it is through CNN updates on your Twitter feed or seeing friends share FSView articles on Facebook about the recent basketball game, news no longer belongs to only a few outlets.
Dr. Susan Moeller’s blog can be found here, while information about other college newspapers can be found here.