Future of Journalism on Social Media Platforms
Since social media started and people first had the idea to use it for news it has become a way for journalists to promote their own work and reach a massive audience in moments.
There are some issues with using certain platforms however, including learning how to make money off social media so news organizations can stay afloat in these rapidly changing times for news organizations.
While this does not talk about how Snapchat is over for journalists it does touch on the issues of Snapchat, such as the fleeting nature of the platform. If a journalist creates content it disappears very quickly which is not what journalists want. It is also very unclear about what to do unlike other platforms where you post it, and it is out there for people to see at any point in time, unless the author deletes what they do. The article also mentions how Snapchat feels like it would be something an amateur or a middle school student would use with its “over-emotional stickers”, its two typefaces that “makes you look like a government bureaucrat in 1978” or “scrawling bright red text on the screen like a demented crayon-wielding five year old” and its constant use of vertical only videos.
If Snapchat is not over for journalists, in my opinion, it should be. This article talks about how the company redesigned its app “causing at least one Snapchat Discover publisher partner’s views to drop by “more than half”.”
I think Snapchat is over for journalists and wonder what people were even thinking when they started to use it. Other platforms would be good to use, would not waste journalist’s time and do not make posts feel like everything is posted by a middle school student. Also, since journalism should be taken seriously having your post look professional matters and I do not think Snapchat is the right platform for journalists.
I do not think TikTok is a good direction for journalists to go in either. This article is a good example of why:
‘“While our services, like WhatsApp, are used by protesters and activists everywhere due to strong encryption and privacy protections, on TikTok, the Chinese app growing quickly around the world, mentions of these protests are censored, even here in the U.S.,” he said.’
This is another example:
It is another gatekeeper so to speak, and a large one at that. Journalist’s jobs are hard enough without companies censoring content people deserve to know about.
News media companies have been making money for years using social media and that includes Facebook. This article explains how they make money so well.
News companies make money off sponsors, selling traffic and amplification and a multitude of other ways the article talks about. These options allow for news companies to stay in business even in the worst of times, such as now with the pandemic going on.
I think journalists will continue to use Twitter more and more in the next year or two instead of Tiktok or Snapchat because platforms like Tiktok do not allow links at all or only in certain circumstances.
I think technically any platform could be used for news but that does not mean it should be.
While some journalists like this one is finding people want to see more news content on Tiktok it does not mean this will be a permanent platform for news.
I think the fact Tiktok has ties with the Chinese government makes it something that will make journalists not want to use it nearly as much as Twitter. If this doesn’t cause journalists to change their minds on the use of Tiktok for journalism I think security will be an issue as far as China spying on Americans and using people’s information against us. If nothing happens I think more and more people will continue to use Tiktok to spread news until it can contend with Twitter and other social media sites.
Overall if anything is going to be used I think Twitter should be used the most for journalism
