If you have ever visited CNN's main political website you will notice at the top there is a ticker which keeps up to date news flowing on the site. However, CNN's ticker isn't the same as you would find on a broadcast show; the ticker is linked to twitter and is updated for every tweet. In my opinion, this is an interesting example of how far social media such as twitter has come in such a short time. Also, it is a really important statement about what social media is about and how it's growth is changing the way we receive and get news.
When you think about how often you visit a social media site compared to how often you visit CNN. MSNBC, or FOX isn't it a little telling to think about how important those sites are and have become? Now for some college students who frequent news sites this doesn't seem like an issue but for the vast majority of students who visit social media a lot this needs to be taken into account. Maybe CNN is onto something here! Everyone seems to have a Facebook or Twitter so if that's the way to spread the news then it needs to be capitalized on. By using social media such as twitter on their website CNN has found a way to draw attention to the news in a way which might inspire people to actually take notice of what's going on in the world. Maybe if news stories can't draw people in hash tags can help.
Gotta admit it-- the hash tags in this title drew me to your article-- and I don't even tweet!
ReplyDeleteYou've made an interesting point. However, there's something more interesting upcoming: What is the proper use of these social media? Is it fair that the only thing shown are tweets, and not a mixture of traditional tickers and tweets? Do tweets even have a place here?
Imagine: a few years ago, there was a great divide between the two media-- and now one easily incorporates itself into the other as avant-garde. we become normalized to the use of social media, we will begin to define the decorum of its use. Wait and see? Let's.