Social Media:The Top 10!I walked into this Social Media class – late and rather worried. For starters, I didn’t know what was left to learn about the Social Media world, that I didn’t already know. I had a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn account. “What more did I need to know?” I asked myself. Anyhow, my fascination with Social Media forced me to wander into this class. From then on, this class has been the biggest life changing – I kid you not, experience of my life. To count just 10 things that I learned from this course is rather hard because I learned more than just a mere ten. But here we go, I’ll take a stab:
- Social Media is constantly evolving – just when you think you’ve learned it all, you’re enlightened with yet another aspect that was unknown to you.
- Networking is key.
- All Social Media platforms are different, unique and useful in their own ways.
- Joining groups connects you with like-minded people.
- Never underestimate the power of LinkedIn – this was the biggest revelation to me. I have a newfound respect for this particular platform.
- The world has never been so small. Social Media brings people together and thus, you always only a wall post, a tweet, a click away.
- Social Media is now literally at your fingertips. With Smart Phones and iPads being a thing of the future, you always connected.
- Social Media is ahead of any news channel or website even. Twitter, being the number one place to go to for real time information, has proved that as a platform, it’s news is updated quicker.
- Keywords make all the difference!
- It’s a package deal! Social Media is all about informing yet entertaining, linking yet connecting. It isn’t used for one single purpose and depending on how you utilize it, it can prove to be as influential in your life.
The Future of Journalism and Social Media
In my opinion, journalism is evolving on a daily basis. But it is shifting because Social Media has such an important impact on it. They really are, in my opinion too closely interconnected now; one cannot function without the other. I remember as a young girl watching television shows about newspapers. It was so hands-on; writers running from place to place looking for ideas and pitches which would take time to follow through with. Of course, there was no sign of Social Media or networking then. Whatever connections you managed to gain using your own personal methods became ones you would hold on to and hope would give you great leads. Nowadays, that is hardly the case. Using Social Media, journalists are aware immediately through the Social Media “grapevines” of events that are newsworthy. They can then jump on the bandwagon and get on board to exploit and sensationalize the information. In fact, Twitter has literally become every journalist’s best friend. This particular form of Social Media works superbly for writers as it allows them to get a feel for arguments and ideas that are circulating within the “public”. They can connect with one another via LinkedIn to support each other and so on. What I particularly feel most passionately about with regards to journalism in the future, is that it is on its way to become remote. Nowadays, publications and newspapers are more than excited to take on board writers who are not in the local vicinity. They understand the need for local reporting straight from the source and thus, it makes a world of a difference if you have a writer who is in the eye of a storm. Social Media is definitely changing the way news is being reported and will continue to do so.
Social Media and Me
I personally will never look at Social Media the same ever again. It was a sheer “fun and games” platform for me which I used to network no doubt, but never looked at so deeply until this course happened to me. This course has taught me a number of skills that I believe will only help further my journalism journey. As I continue in my pursuit to becoming a top-notch writer, I know that all my skills in utilizing Social Media correctly will help to further my career. The impact it will have on my future, I’ll only know then but it has already had an impact in personal future…right now!
1 comment:
I agree with everything you said. When I was trying to come up with my list of 10, I was drawing such a blank, I honestly couldn't think or more than like 3 things, but I managed to stretched it out, but after reading yours I realized I learned what I wrote for mine, plus what you wrote for yours too. And you knew more coming into social media than I did. There's a lot of new stuff covered in this class which should be happening since social media is always changing.
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