JRN 4440/FA14

"8 Key Takeaways About Social Media and News" assignment 

Can social media be your primary news source? In today’s society social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, is becoming more and more important. In the article, “8 Key Takeaways About Social Media and News” by Katerina Eva Matsa and Amy Mitchell talk about how important social media has become to journalism, and how people get their news.

The first point that they claim is that, “News has a place in social media – but on some sites more than others.” I believe this is true, because in today’s society almost everyone has a Facebook or Twitter.

Therefore it is an easy outlet for people to get news. The downside however, is that most “news” on social media is entertainment news. It is very rare that you will find CNN or FOX on your timeline unless you follow them, or one of your friends repost an article from their profile.

The second point that Matsa and Mitchell claim is that, Just 34% of Facebook news consumers “like” a news organization or individual journalist.” This goes back to my first point by showing the statistics of just how many of the millions of people on Facebook are actually using social media as a news source. Not as many as you would think.

As stated before entertainment news is the primary news that you find on social media. However according to Matsa and Mitchell “People and events in my community” is at 65%, then sports are in third place with 57%, and then a close fourth is National Government and politics with 55%.

This shows where the people on social media priorities are. Even though your personal interest may differ, most of everyone on social media is more worried about celebrity news and what is going on their life, than they are about what is going on in their country.

Another point that I found interesting is that, “On Twitter, groups of people come together around news events they feel passionately about. But opinions expressed on Twitter often differ from the broad public opinion.” 

You would think with how many people that are on Twitter, that they would speak for the majority of people, but according to the article that is false. I however don’t believe that social media is the voice of the general public. Social media is geared towards the younger generation.

Even though there are millions of people on Facebook and Twitter, there are millions of people who are not. The older generations that are not glued to their cellphones, or computers 24/7 have an opinion as well, but they don’t put it on social media outlets.

Overall I agree with the different points that this article talks about. Social media is diffidently a good place to get news from, if you follow the news sources. It is all about your interest, and what you want to read while on your social media. Social media gives you the freedom to decided what you want to read or learn more about.