Thursday, September 23, 2010

Social Media Research Results

Social media is no longer being seen as merely a way for individuals to stay connected for social purposes, now it is also being utilized as a way for journalists to gather information when researching their stories. A survey conducted nationwide by Cision and George Washington University’s Don Bates, discovered that the bulk of journalists rely on social media outlets for information during their research process. Eight-nine percent of journalists surveyed use blogs for story research, sixty-five percent use social media sites such as MySpace and Facebook and more than half of journalists use microblogging services like Twitter. For example, if you watch a newscast of ‘E! News’, for at least every second story, the show’s presenters will say “…as confirmed by twitter” or “and the star tweeted....” A recent story broken via Twitter was the news that Kat Von D and Sandra Bullock’s ex-husband, Jesse James, are now dating. Kat tweeted “Yes, Jesse and I are dating” which was then re-tweeted by more than a hundred people and broadcasted in every major gossip column, celebrity magazine and celebrity entertainment news show. To check out the full news report, go to People.
The biggest problem with using social media publications as new sources is that their reliability is a big issue. Of all the journalists surveyed, eight-four percent recognized that social media information sources were either “slightly less” or “much less” reliable than traditional media sources. The real issue comes in when journalists use social media sources as their sole sources and they do not run a fact check on the information - journalists have become sloppy about information verification. Mike Wise, a well-known Washington Post writer did an experiment to illustrate this point which ended up getting him suspended for a month! He planted a false twitter post that stated that “Roethlisberger will get five games, I'm told.” This tweet was in reference to the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who faced a six-game suspension for a conduct violation. Wise’s post insinuated that the player’s suspension might be reduced. Wise was trying to prove how easily false information can be published online and then re-published as news without being fact checked.  In response to all the backlash Wise received, he exclaimed: “I was right about nobody checking facts or sourcing.”
The bottom line learnt here is that social media outlets can be used to find out information quickly and easily, however, the information must be verified by a credible source before it should be published as news or presented as the truth. Also, never risk your career to prove a general point to the world!

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