Influence of the media
Is social media good?
I have a funny relationship with social media. I'm a journalist, using social media is like a prerequisite these days. And I recognize the power, the incredible uses, the onslaught of personal information and competing headlines, and the sociological insights.
But I feel overburdened with it at times, and perhaps I'm in the minority, but I haven't fallen in love with it, although I am quite proficient. I still have to make an effort, while it seems others crave it, thrive off of it. Don't get me wrong, I have my overkill moments. When I'm deep into an issue and can't wait to share details on social media, getting public opinion, while also devouring everything I can find being discussed on social media. I guess I'm just not a full-time junkie, more of an occasional binge consumer who keeps up appearances.
I can't seem to weave Twitter into my daily routine but oh have I tried. I use Twitter when I want to check out a trending topic and particularly when there is drama in the media field so I can see what the insiders are saying. But I find that time consuming and sometimes salacious. I try to tweet insightful tidbits, share articles that I think should be read and offer poetic personal touches without revealing too much — but I don't do this enough to garner a loyal or interested following. As exposure becomes more and more important in my field, I'm constantly exploring new ways of streamlining my social media presence, with a clear and relatable message, and where I can express myself and connect with people on a deeper level.
Facebook I use more often, although guiltily as it's more to check out the latest sensational headlines and odd articles being shared among the masses, and also to stay pseudo connected to friends and family. I try to keep my professional life separate from Facebook and as a rule I only connect with people who I would hang out with in a personal setting, but even that gets a bit blurred. So I am careful to maintain my online image and compose my posts carefully.
Since I'm very focused on my career right now, I'm really enjoying Linkedin. This is almost entirely because I'm going through a transition from full-time newspaper work to part-time teaching, and I'm motivated to take stock in all I've done. Tweaking my Linkedin page, updating my skills and accomplishments, and connecting with other professionals has really pushed me to think about my whole image, my professional image and how I can leverage that to open up opportunities. It also gives me a chance to connect with organizations and people who can help advance my career or provide me with critical information. It's a great professional tool.
Add to this, I now use Google+ to manage a data journalism project I'm working on, Wordpress to teach my students about portfolio building and now I've just joined Blogger! Social media overload or covering all your bases? Hmmm, let's see how it works out before I answer that.
All social media platforms influence our perspectives, some more than others, and particularly if we use them a lot. Out of them all Facebook is probably the most in-your-face influencer, although Twitter can branch out in even more broad ways and have farther reach.
On Facebook, your own personal onslaught of messages is usually from your friends and websites you follow. This can lead to your newsfeed being overrun with sensational articles meant to entice the lustful Facebook user, plus your friends reposting and commenting on the same messages, which together reinforce the messages.
On Twitter, however, all it takes is a hashtag to bring together millions of people virtually under a common cause. But in the case of Twitter, there is more individual seeking out and following certain hashtags and movements, rather than advertisement-type posts on Facebook that are designed to seek you out.
I try to manage what messages I connect with, or give my time to, and I also recognize slanted or overly subjective content, which seems all the craze right now on social media. I see that many news organizations are appealing to our preconceived opinions rather than feeding us objective information. I'm not sure social media has much of an influence on my behaviors, but I know that it makes me acutely aware of my digital footprint. I do observe others getting swept up in daily media storms feeding on our emotions and the mob mentality.
Like the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Initially all the outlets rushed to condemn the man, as they kept finding commentary and reports by other military personnel calling him a deserter. But when the dust settled, many headlines turned to condemning conservatives for condemning him — it was like they watched the tide of public opinion and gave us news to fit neatly into the box of our existing sentiments. They rushed to confirm our beliefs instead of trying to find the truth.
But then again, I can call on social media any time I need to connect with many people, whether it be for advice, localized input or to gain followers on a particular issue. I have some friends who spend all day sharing messages about animal rights, trying to save a particular dog or fund a program; and I have others who spread awareness on autoimmune diseases, educating people and connecting common interests.
The influence social media has on people can be good and bad. On the negative end of the spectrum you can have false, misleading and socially destructive messages spreading like wildfire and influencing everyone to stand behind a distorted issue. On the positive end, you can rally people around a good cause, garner donations, support and development, by extending your reach and therefore your influence.
So, is social media good?
That can't be answered with a simple yes or no. The answer is, it can be.
I appreciated your post and the thought that evidently went into creating it. I understand what you mean about sometimes feeling "overburdened with" social media. Sometimes, it feels like a chore to maintain various sites. Have you used any social media management tools like Hootsuite or TweetDeck? I am familiar with those Twitter dashboard tools, although I don't have any experience with them myself. I am curious whether that's something that is/would be useful to you in your line of work.
ReplyDeleteI guess it depends on which role you are in -- that is, whether you are using social media as a means of personal expression and communication with others or as a professional looking to establish/maintain a brand identity (even if that "brand" is your own professional persona!).
Thank you Kevin. I think I was venting a bit. I do enjoy social media but it seems there are constantly new etiquette rules and expectations for how much and what you should post on any given site. Sometimes I like being disconnected. But I want to be good at what I do and I want to be able to hang with the best online.
DeleteFor most of my career I haven't needed to master social media or even my multi media journalism skills, as I've worked at print newspapers. But it is always what I studied and pushed myself to understand and put to practice. Now I'm leaving newspaper work and I'm trying to spread my wings, get all the freshest skills.
I think this class, and communicating with other professional people like yourself should really help me exercise those skills.
Thanks Truth Be Told for your blog on Social Media. I agree that social media can be used to promote one's personal expression as well as one's professional persona. I want to add an additional aspect to the conversation of social media being the new "mission" field for ministries and organizational causes. This is the new frontier to promote messaging for all types of causes and its quick and effective. I use my facebook pages as ministry page for people who are need a positive outlook on life. I use my everyday life experiences to be transparent with my audience and share the ups and downs of living an authentic christian walk. I loved your details about how new technologies can distract us as well as advance us to new levels. Truth Be Told I agree! Blessings.
ReplyDeleteYes Roschelle. It really is beautiful the good being done through social media and the Internet. I personally get conflicted because I can see it having negative implications in my personal life, like when I spend time online rather than with my family. But the potential reach and the opportunities to do good and empower people are enormous. It's also about balance I guess. We should do our best to save the world, but not neglect ourselves in the process. I'll keep working on it. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteStephanie - I appreciate the time you spent on your post. This is a great example to share with the class because it's thoughtful and fully answers the questions. I share your conflicted feelings about social media. I have some friends who aren't even on social media (or are just lurkers), but journalists need to use it. Social media is a wonderful outlet for building an audience and continuing the conversation about breaking news or issues in the community. I also like to see people using it for positive means. My pet peeves are the endless requests to play games by some people. I also have students in my design class use Wordpress for their portfolios. It works out well! When you use Google+ for your class, are you also using the hangout feature and connecting via webcam? Having these tools is really helpful to journalists and educators, and it's great that you get to experience it both ways.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Sometimes I struggle to answer every question while maintaining a good narrative, but I try to make it work so it's also easy to read. I also try to be honest, and share my struggles of being a responsible social media user.
ReplyDeleteI love using Wordpress in the classroom. At first some of my students are intimidated and they think they can't build a website, but by the end of the semester they are all so proud of their portfolios that they built themselves. Wordpress makes it pretty easy.
I actually am using Google + for a data project I'm working on with other journalists, statisticians and programers. I created a Google + communities page where we share our work, share Google docs and spreadsheets we are working on, and share news about the industry. I'll also use it to announce scheduled Google hangouts where we all get together. I haven't used the video feature yet, but I want to soon. The down side is you have to have a goggle account to participate.
I'm still trying to figure out which tool is best for each project, but right now I just take it one thing at a time, as it's easy to get overwhelmed with all the options.
Stephanie - This is an excellent blog post, and I'm thrilled to see that several of your classmates took the time to comment on it. Keep up the great work!
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