How Mobile Devices and Social Media are Impacting Journalism

Digital media is reshaping journalism, creating unprecedented pros and cons that audiences and journalists alike must address. 

Photo by Waverly Brannigan

Within an age that allows nearly anyone to create and publish content online, there are both positives and negatives. One of the main positives is accessibility. Since most people have phones and social media accounts, they can easily see the content that news organizations post. However, people sharing their own content can lead to challenges, including a rise in misinformation. Chapter 1 of Mobile and Social Media Journalism by Anthony Adornato discusses that when it comes to user-generated content, journalists must evaluate many aspects – including if the content has news value, fact check, provide credit where it’s due, and not become overly dependent on social media as a source. 

Chapter 1 also discusses the concept of an “active” audience. Adornato defines an active audience as an “audience that can create and publish content,” since what used to be a passive consumer audience can now contribute to news. This helps journalists access hard-to-reach places but also widens the possibility for misinformation. Audiences have also changed as people are consuming news at a higher level, making it easier for fake news to slip through the cracks – which consumers should be educated on. 

Within the digital world, journalists also must develop new skills including simply knowing how to use social media to create content for individual platforms, which includes putting information in context, verifying, and fact-checking, especially information found online. 

As for how social media is changing consumer habits, this New York Times article discusses 10 shifts. Some include how time of day influences content selection, meaning journalists should post heavier content earlier in the morning compared to the end of the day when people want to relax. People are also craving more transparency, which is a fine line that many newsrooms are adjusting to to maintain a healthy boundary between the public and a journalist's professional process and personal life. This transparency is also an effort to help address the issue of fake news since everything is essentially “out in the open” on social media. 

In Chapter 2 of Social and Mobile Journalism, Adornato explains ways newsrooms can embrace a “mobile first mindset.” Moving on to digital-only news organizations, journalists must strive to produce quality content across a variety of platforms and engage audiences positively and authentically. This means catering content to a particular platform, like shorter, more engaging content for TikTok and more image-based stories for Instagram. It’s also important for journalists and publications to delve into various digital products, including podcasts and digital newsletters. All of these techniques demonstrate how journalism is rapidly changing, and if journalists can adapt to a social media based audience, they will be able to find success in the rapidly changing media landscape.