I have never been a fan of blogs. When it comes to writing them, I don't have the time to upkeep a blog. When it comes to reading them, I usually lose interest or forget about them. However, when the news is not covering all details in a story, where do I go? Blogs. Where do I go when I want to learn more about a plane crash? Blogs. Where do I go when I want to learn more about a presidential candidate or Newt's "family life"? Blogs. While I may not sit and follow certain blogs in my day to day life, whenever there is something is important, I will find it in a blog. If there is anything you want to read about, you will find a blog that talks about it, plus 75 other blogs talking about the exact same thing.
Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Blogspot, all of these forms of new media have created instantaneous media. I can confidently say that my Facebook will alert me of a "breaking news story" before any broadcast media interrupts my television show for special report regarding some "breaking news" event. How is it considered "breaking news" when I learned about it on Facebook over and hour ago and blogs have already been covering the event for an hour and a half? By the time Bin Laden was announced dead on the news, my Facebook news feed already gave me all the details I needed to know.
While I think these forms of new media are FORCING more Americans to become informed and it is a good thing, I am also left with wondering whether this leads to less people watching broadcast media. Today I think it is hard for most people who have a Facebook or twitter to go in their page and not see something political or informative. Of the hundreds of "friends" people have on their friend list, I am sure there is at least one obnoxious person who likes to post about politics or media coverage. Maybe that annoying person is yourself, nothing wrong with that. If one person with 1,000 friends posts about KONY 2012, they are informing 1,000 people with just the click of a button. Of those 1,000 people, I am sure a large majority are people who would have never came across the story otherwise.
It is just like our discussion in class earlier today regarding blogs. When you visit a blog, you are exposed to an entirely new list of blogs, each blog connected to another in some way. Facebook does the same thing in its web of interconnectedness. Im sure the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon is much shorter in Facebook world. Meaning it is a lot easier to spread a story, an interest, or a cause. I would argue Facebook and the rest of social media has a heck of a lot more power than broadcast media. All we need to do is look at the countries this blog has been read in. So in the end, while I never liked blogs, social media informs me quicker than broadcast media, and connects us all in a way I never thought would have been possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment