Adopting the changing media landscape:
The Curious case of Social Media
Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee
Media
Landscape is changing
The first thing you notice these days, that
youngsters, more and more of them are moving towards Internet enabled devices (mostly
hand held ones-mobile phone, tablet, fablet, etc.) for accessing news[1].
This is not only happening in metro cities or tier II cities but also in small
towns. A recent survey done by students of Indian Institute of Mass
Communication (IIMC), Dhenkanal found[2]
that more than 50 per cent of matriculate students in Dhenkanal, a small
Central Odisha town with a population of just above 1 lakh wants to read from computer and Internet enabled devices. One may wonder,
really! And question, are they doing that now? Probably not. As per the Cube report
‘Internet in Rural India’ by the Internet and Mobile Association of India
(IAMA) and IMRB, July 2013, 19 percent of Indians access Internet; 8 per cent
are active social media users, while 70 per cent use mobile and total 15 per
cent use Internet through mobile, out of which 7 per cent is active social
media user through mobile. In rural India where 69 per cent of the population lives
about 5.4 per cent are Internet users and 3.6 per cent are active rural
Internet user and 1.6 per cent is active mobile Internet user. But the number
of Internet users, especially through mobile is increasing very fast. Consider this: in the last two years there have been 5 times
rise in smart phone sales[3],
data use rose 4 times[4],
with voice revenue almost stagnant[5].
What does that mean? That means more and more people, especially youngsters are
using mobile phone to access Internet, get and share news and do shopping and
banking[6]
and networking with friends real and virtual.
The question that assumes greater importance is not whether
people are accessing news through Internet enabled devices now, but the fact
that they want to access news from Web-enabled
devices, which they will do sooner or letter. Probably sooner than one can
imagine as the lightening fast growth of smart phones in India indicate. Pray why? The survey tried to find out
reasons. Here are some: Because it is fast, almost instant. It provides
information in doses that one can take in or wishes to take in. And it provides
seemingly unlimited kinds and volumes of news. One can access his/her kind of
news.
Looking at the content of the news over a period of
say 30 years, one can find a sea change. Gone are the days when politics,
especially what the PM or President said invariably used to be the first lead.
A content analysis of news content over the years shows that news from other
domains are gradually pushing the percentage of space politics and speeches
used to take in newspapers and television.
The content has undergone change. So have
presentation, layout and format. And instantaneous dissemination is a foregone
conclusion now, no matter where on earth or beyond something might have
happened or happening.
What
is happening in the media landscape?
a.
Glocalisation. Thanks to the ICT revolution, world is indeed a
village now. One gets news from across the globe in matter of seconds. But
interestingly thanks to the printing and delivery technology more and more
local news is being disseminated. Newspapers are coming ouit with state level
editions. State level newspapers are coming out with Dist. Level editions.
There are newspapers with muhalla
wise editions too. For example consider the case of Chennai based Mylapore
Times[7],
which now has one edition for each of the localities of Chennai. Television
channels are coming up with language –focused channels. Even in language
specific channels, attempt is being made to have region special news. For
example in Odisha OTV has a separate news bulletin in Sambalpuri dialect to
cater to people from western Odisha. Local editions of some state level
newspapers have a portion or even pages in the local dialect of the concerned
district/area.
b.
Information
overload. More and more information and news from every conceivable domain are being
disseminated.
c.
More
Variety leading to niche subject publication. Alvin Toffler[8](1981)
told about demassification[9] about ten years ago. What is happening
now could be termed as hyper demassification. The personal web-enabled devices
are augmenting this trend as it can allow one to peruse his/her subject of interest
to any length.
d. Search for
meaning. As there is more information from various sources (credible and
dubious) than ever before, finding meaning from the load of information is
increasingly becoming difficult and more important.
Where does Social Media fit in
this?
More
readers are switching to online media as they want to know ‘what is happening’
as fast as could be possible. They want to be ‘with the news, 24x7’, not
because all of them are news-junkie but because of the simple facts that the
facility is available at no extra cost and it provides them an extra social
edge. This has been happening from 1990s in developed countries and from
mid/late 90s onwards in India.
After
social networking emerged in 2000s in developed countries and by late first and
early second decade in India, gradually more and more are moving towards social
media to (a) get their news and (b) engage with the events and issues more
intimately. So much so that Amy Mitchell & Tom Rosenstiel of PEJ, and Leah Christian
of Pew Research Center wrote in a May 2011 report analyzing online news
behavior called Navigating News Online,
“ Perhaps no topic in technology attracted more attention in 2011 than the rise
of social media and its potential impact on news.” They opined “If searching
for news was the most important development of the last decade, sharing news
may be among the most important of the next.[10]”
In an article Why the News Media Became Irrelevant–And How Social Media Can
Help[11]
the author Michael Slokar said that “people are more likely to find their news
on Social Media sites because it makes people feel more connected to one
another. This is because they are passing along direct experience, which is why
Social Media is so popular in today’s culture. These social bookmarking sites
help people find relevant news based on who is recommending stories.”
Whatever be the reasons,
the fact remains by early 2015 social media has emerged collectively as a news
disseminator, aggregator and source.
How are the mainstream Media
adopting the change?
Mainstream
media in India have tried and to a large extent succeeded to adapt to the
changes and move with the times far better than their western counterparts.
Consider this. Internet was used in India in early 90s for the first time. The
first web edition of a newspaper in India (Hindu) was released on 1995.
As
of now, almost all mainstream newspapers, magazines have their Internet
edition. Most of them have adapted their content to fit in different platforms
like print, television, web and social media and in devices like mobile. Most of the mainstream newspapers have system
in place to present content differently to suit different delivery platforms
keeping a basic design synergy.
By
the first decade of the millennium almost all media houses have their presence
in social mediascape in different forms.
However,
there are certain important issues in using social media in news as it has the
capacity to act collectively as a news disseminator, aggregator and source.
Caveat
Social
media as source of news gives rise to several issues because of its nature and
characteristics.
a. Social
media lacks the rigour and check and balance mechanism of mainstream media. It
is easy to spread a canard or disinformation through social media (the exodus
of people from North Eastern States from Southern cities following spread of
rumour in social media is one recent example).
b. Social
media enhances phatic[12]
communication, which can easily go/turn into activism mode.
c. Social
media enhances homophilly[13]
between like minded individuals, which can infringe on the objectivity and
distance required for writing news.
d.
Social media is not
intrinsically democratic. Terrorist groups use it for propagation of their
ideology. In fact it reduces the scope and space of debate, as the stake
holders often harden their stand.
e.
News can more easily be
‘manufactured’ and ‘made big’ in social media than in any other media.
What about the future of Social
Media as news aggregator, source and disseminator?
As
things stand now, in foreseeable future, social media will increase its
penetration and use by many folds. The IT (Information Technology) is entering
what is known as the third platform era. Simply put, the new IT era is uniting
key trends, including the social media, mobility and cloud storage. While the
first platform served only the experts with mainframe computers and the second
PCs was occupied by early adopters and teen agers, the third has ushered in the
democratic age of information technology. It is no longer that intimidating (or
so it seems) to general public. That level of ease in use by hoi poloi is a definite plus point in an
open democratic society, where people can engage in public debate and affairs
and in and Government in matters of governance[14].
Question:
Will it replace mainstream news media? Answer: Not likely.
The
mainstream news media enjoys credibility because (a) it is mediated. It removes
the chaff from the grain. (b) It gives the readers meaning out of information;
and (c) it enjoys credibility because information goes through several layers
of check before it is released as ‘news’. As social media usually bypass these
checks and do not care much about balance and objectivity, it can never replace
mainstream news media. Rather, mainstream media will be more relevant because
at one point people will look for credibility, meaning out of mass of
information and relevance. These three are key strong points of mainstream
media. Social
media could be additional paths to news, not replacements for more traditional
ones.
Some
media pundits are of the opinion that perhaps news media will merge with social
media. In fact, the idea that news media is merging with social media relates to Newsonomics author, Ken Doctor’s, Law
Number 5: The Great Gathering; or, The Fine Art of Using Other People’s Content[15].
It explains that not only sites like Google, Facebook, and YouTube link blogs
and news articles to their sites, but now even online newspapers do as a means
to stay up with the times. The New York Times has google-links to stories that
relate to what they are reporting.
What I think will happen
is: mainstream media will take advantage of the
opportunities and advantages social media provide to spread its presence
without merging with social media.
It
will devise new ways and means to use the strengths and facilities of social
media to its advantage and/or to overcome its difficulties. Consider what is
happening in small places of Odisha, considered to be one among the backward
state. The papers and magazines published from small places, even villages are
utilizing facebook and twitter to augment their presence. They are using facebook
to provide a platform for discussion which they usually provide in their pages.
Space in their pages is finite where as space on social media is much larger
and it also provides an opportunity to provide multimedia experience. And it
hardly has any carriage cost, as in the case of print or television. Small startups are taking this advantage more
than the mainstream media. In fact because of the financial and logistical
reasons social media will be their life line. Consider a web based news channel
in Odisha called Orissalive.com. It uploads its news videos on youtube. It is
their lifeline. Many small publications are using twitter to generate interest
in their stories.
What the journalists, especially senior ones need to do?
In India increasingly
mobile phone is changing the way and form news is disseminated. As mobile phone
is becoming the primary device of net access, news is increasingly being
disseminated through mobile phones written in a way to suit its small screen.
So mobile phone users get news in headlines. Result: fast is in and depth (and
at times authenticity) is out. And
thanks to the mashup[16]
quality of new media the user can get news in different form.[17]
Thanks to the technology that drives social media, anybody can do this and send
to anybody. People are increasingly doing that- sending news to each other or
to groups. However, at one point one looks for credibility to be sure that the
news is true and depth to understand its meaning, how it relates to him/her or
to the society and what will be its impact. To know is one level, to understand
is another and probably higher level for which you need more information and insight.
When one wants to understand- one turns to authentic sources, to people who
know and can explain in a language that you can understand. There lies the core
strength of mainstream media. With its vast experience, professional rigour and
trained human resource they can do it better than all others. And they can use
social media technology to do that. They are already doing that. What the end
receivers and users of news need to do- is to look up at them.
What the senior
journalists need to do is to utilize social media proactively. Using social
media is no rocket science. It takes interest and little application to learn
to use it. However, the senior journalists must utilize social media to
consolidate the core strength of mainstream journalism. Because in the days to
come, there will be further information load and cacophony in the mediascape
and in this situation, the credible and authentic voice will find more takers
and be more important than ever before.
***
4 Jan 2014
The author, a journalist turned media academician presently heads
the eastern India campus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC),
located at Dhenkanal, Odisha.
[1] The circulation of English language newspaper is on
the decline. Though circulation of regional language newspapers, especially
Hindi is increasing but the rate is just about.
[2] Survey conducted in Nov. 2014.
[3] Q1 sale 3.5 million, Q1 2014-15 sale 17.6 million. Source: newsflicks,
India Today 24 Nov. 2014.
[4] 15, 879 million MB in Q2 2012-13 to 67, 668 in Q2 2014-15. Source:
newsflicks, India Today 24 Nov. 2014.
[5] Voice Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) 148 in Q2 2012-13 to 158 in
Q2 2014-15. Source: newsflicks, India Today 24 Nov. 2014.
[6] Mobile payments have grown 10 times in 2 years- 24 million in
2011-12 to 220 million in 2013-14. Source: newsflicks, India Today 24 Nov.
2014.
[8] Toffler, Alvin 1981 The Third Wave, Bantham, New York
[9] The process of transforming a few traditional outlets into many
nontraditional ones.
[10] http://www.journalism.org/2012/10/01/future-mobile-news/.
Retrieved on 4 Jan. 2015
[11] http://jclass.umd.edu/classes/jour698m/skoler_files/contentserver.pdf.
Retrieved on 4 Jan. 2015
[12] A type of communication that is neither information nor dialogic,
which reinforces social bonds by the sharing of feelings and establishing a
mood of sociability. Term coined by Miller Michael (2008) New Media, Networking
and Phatic Culture, Convergence, Vol
14, No 4,pp 27-34.
[13] The tendency for friendships and many other interpersonal
relationships to occur between similar people. (Thelwall, Mike 2009, Homophilly
in MySpace, Journal of the American
Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol 60, no 2, pp 219-31.)
[14] Bijay Pratap has written a paper on this titled ‘Social Media aur Sarkar ka Rshta’, Jan
Media, Vol 3, Issue 33, December 2014.
[16] A digital mixing of various sources, such as music, images and
animation.
[17] There is a genre of news called visual news. It is almost like
infographics, but more topical, recent and fast with more media thrown in.
There are several apps which one can download from Apple App Store or Google
Play, for example newsflicks.
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