Social Media Part 1: In the News

Have you noticed all the press that Twitter and Facebook are getting lately? Do you think the press is running scared? No, I don't think traditional media is going away, but social media is definitely giving them a run for their money.

Listen to this clip from Larry King Live after CNN loses a contest to Ashton Kutcher about who will get to 1 million twitter followers first.


The most telling point for me was when Ashton commented that he thought how significant it is that "we now live in an age, for media, that a single voice can have as much power and relevance, on the Web that is, as an entire media network." This is exactly what we've been talking about in my digital media class. The world is changing and everyone can have an equal voice.

Here are 5 articles within the last two weeks worth noting.

1. Florida Blogger Wages War on Street Giant - Riding the train home the other day, someone had left a Post (the paper kind, not the blog kind) on the seat next to me. This article caught my eye. I include it here as a response to the article Feeling To Down to Rise Up that I wrote about in Thoughts on Readings - Week 4. It's a David vs. Goliath story of one man who took on questionable practices at Goldman Sachs through his blog postings. Again, it's just a new and different way of rising up.
2. The YouTube Presidency - Transparency has never been so transparent. Remember in "Back to the Future" Doc Brown, shocked at finding out that Ronald Reagan, the actor, was President in 1985 commented that it was no wonder - "in the 'future', you had to look good on television". Well, in 2009, you have to look good on YouTube! And Obama's widespread understanding and attachment to technology was just the person to do it.
3. Let Them Eat Tweets - The author contends that our prescious connections - Twitter followers and Facebook friends - are really "liabilities that we pretend are assets" and that social networking has become overcrowded. I'm not sure I agree with her assessment but it's just another in the long line of Twitter articles popping up all the time.
4. To Get to Carnegie Hall? Try Out on YouTube - Another glimpse into the possiblities that social networking offers. Maybe next time Carnegie Hall will host a virtual orchestra with each musician playing his/her part from the comfort of their own home. A very green idea, don't you think? My little nod to yesterday's Earth Day!
5. J-Schools Play Catchup - While this article is not speaking about any specific social media outlet, it addresses a more widespread problem. "How do you position students for an uncertain future in the media?" Journalism schools all over the country are having to redesign their entire curriculum because of the new "digital, on-demand world" that is creating a whole new vocabulary for media. Like the video above says, everyone has an equally powerful voice; media is no longer one-directional.
   

Traditional media and digital social media are coming together, faster and faster. I think it's particularly relevant to mention that I read or viewed all of these on traditional media first. The Ashton Kutcher clip I watched on TV. The others I read in an actual newspaper. However, I found all of them online EASILY. Traditional media sources are being forced to jump on the digital bandwagon or be left behind.

Wondering how this is going to effect learning and education? Read the next installment: Social Media Part 2: The Effect on Education.