Social media has altered the way we communicate with each other and how organizations communicate with its stakeholders. Today, with 71% of U.S. adults on Facebook alone, it’s quite clear that the population has adopted its use and integrated it into their everyday lives.
I remember the days, not that I’m that old, when most companies said the words social media it was usually followed by sigh of reluctance. In the professional communication world we have gone from saying social media is “non-traditional” communication to “traditional.” Meaning that what was once considered a marketing communication tool on the fringe for a business to now it is a ‘must-have’ in your external communication efforts.
To me, what I’ve find most compelling is how social media has influenced just about every facet of our lives, especially traditional news media. It seems like you cannot go a week without a news report that includes a social media reference. A compelling personal story that has gone viral to the point where large outlets like NBC News covers the story. Maybe it’s a story about suppression of a culture, or as we’ve seen lately, the distrust in law enforcement. Regardless, social media has changed the immediacy of news and
Just this weekend, a San Antonio high school football team was playing a game and with only minutes left in the game, a football player supposedly targeted a referee on the field and tackled him during a play. As the referee hit the ground, another player for the same team came and hit him on the ground, further injuring the referee. Video of the event was captured by spectators and was posted on YouTube (now with nearly 800,000 views at the time of this posting) to be shared around the world.
Within 12 hours the video had gone viral with local news covering the story, requests from CBS Sports and ABC News to re-air the video on all their platforms. The video was captured using a cell-phone, but looks as though it was recorded from a TV, that part is still not clear.. State football officials are now in the mix, the referee wants to press charges against the football players and certain folks are asking the players never step foot on a football field again. Bleacher Report, a digital-native sports news website, ESPN and other national news outlets are picking up on the story.
I mention the story because all of this I just described above took place through social media. My wife discovered the story on Facebook. I’ve followed the story since Sunday morning on Twitter. The UIL, a sports governing body in Texas, took to Twitter Sunday afternoon to officially release their statement on the situation. If you look at the video poster’s comments section on the video, you can see requests from media outlets asking permission to show his video throughout their news products. While the story is still developing, this is the power of social media and I’m sure will lead to a change in procedure or policy to deter future incidents
Again in San Antonio just this past week, a man was shot and killed while he was allegedly surrendering to a county sheriff. What makes the story compelling is the fact that the person’s next door neighbor saw the commotion and captured the event via his cell phone camera. A local TV station wanted the video exclusively for their station and ended up paying the neighbor $100 for the rights to the video. Though the video was at a specific angle and could not tell the whole story, the station ran it anyway, which showed the man with both hands up as the sheriff shot him. The station only showed a portion of the video during their newscast, but posted the unedited version on their website. The public’s reaction online was swift and loud. To the point that Public Information Officer for the sheriff’s office put out a statement on their Facebook page denouncing the TV station for posting the video and directing the public to call the TV station in outrage of showing a man being shot. Then a war of words began on Facebook between the TV station and the sheriff’s office.
The story has exploded, especially with the current state of distrust with law enforcement nation wide. Within several days of the story posted online, the video and article have been shared 50,000 times on Facebook and over 2,000 times on Twitter. Again, the story is still developing, but I’m sure it will lead to a change in procedures with as much ruckus that is being made in the court of public opinion.
I share all of these examples as evidence that social media is an agent of change. With millennials and other generations using social media as their news sources, it is providing a new way to communicate and gives every day people a voice and the power to bring about change.
From more of a theoretical approach, there are a lot of communication theories out in the academic world, many talk about the media’s influence on the public. I wonder when someone will create a communication model that takes into account social media as the influencer of news media. In a social media world, the general public has the power, and frankly, the responsibility to use social media to change views about specific issues.
References:
• http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/social-media-update-2014/
• http://dc.library.okstate.edu/utils/getfile/collection/Dissert/id/73777/filename/74468.pdf
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNCrs63JeuM&sns=em
• http://www.ksat.com/news/ksatcom-exclusive-unedited-video-of-fatal-deputy-involved-shooting
• http://www.journalism.org/2015/06/01/millennials-political-news/
• http://www.danah.org/papers/2010/BSTS-TwitterPolarization.pdf
I agree that social media has changed from a marketing communication tool to now a 'must-have' for any business. It is essential for businesses to be utilizing social media platforms, not only to promote their services, but to gain insight and knowledge from their consumers, as well as provide quality customer service. If a business ops out of using social media than they are making a huge mistake, while other businesses are advancing by connecting to their consumers. Social media is, however, a tool that needs to be used properly. It is very easy for one post intended in one particular way to be misinterpreted by consumers, and taken a different way leading to consumers being offended. This ties into the example you gave of the news station posting the video of a man being shot by a police officer online. Many people were offended and thought it was incredibly inappropriate to post a video of someone being shot. The news station wasn’t even thinking about how it would offend someone, but only had their minds set on getting their story out quickly and having the best evidence over other news stations. Individuals in charge of social media platforms for a company should learn proper etiquette and definitely think twice and double check before posting anything on their company’s behalf. Benefits of utilizing social media is that a company can listen to what the consumers are saying, whether it is a complaint or positive comment about their products or services. If it is a complaint they can directly respond to the customer and try to correct the problem or explain their services process, whatever the case may be. If it is positive feedback, they can take it into account moving forward in the future, knowing what aspects of their services consumers like and don’t like.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I enjoyed reading it.
Thanks Danielle for the comment. Now that it's been a few days since the posting of the police video, there has been an outcry of support for the TV station. The news station's approach was that of 'here's the video, you decide for yourself.' Being first to the story and the only station that had "rights" to the video was also a part of the picture. Most experts in town believe the station did the right thing. And now the Sheriff's office is not releasing a reported second video until the investigation is complete. Many residents and media, are asking to release the second video, which claims the officers were justified in their response of deadly force.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger story here, which has overshadowed the police video is the high school football players allegedly targeting a referee by hitting him during a recent football game. The YouTube video has grown from 800K views at the time of my original posting, to over 10 MILLION!!! The event has attracted national media attention in traditional and digital media. The story has truly gone viral. I think it's because of the incident is steeped in racial injustice, the perception the head football coach has "lost control of the program" and a young assistant coach seems to be made the scapegoat. Again, the story is developing, but the power of social media is evident in this instance.
Thanks for reading my blog and your comment.
-Stephen