Social Media's Transformation of Political Campaigns and News Media

This essay explores the transformative impact of Facebook and other social media platforms on political campaigns and news media. It examines how social media has changed the way candidates communicate with constituents, providing a direct line of communication while simultaneously placing them under constant scrutiny. The essay also analyzes how news consumption has shifted from traditional media to social media, offering benefits such as instant updates but also posing challenges like the spread of fake news and the decline of quality journalism. Furthermore, it discusses how the focus has shifted from serious news to viral content, impacting the business models of traditional news outlets and the way consumers engage with information. Desklib offers this and other solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

Running head: CREATING SOCIAL MEDIA
CREATING SOCIAL MEDIA
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1CREATING SOCIAL MEDIA
1. What changes has Facebook and other forms of social media brought to political
campaigns? What can campaigns do differently today than they did 20 years ago? Or 4 years
ago?
Answer- Facebook and other forms of social media like Twitter have changed the way the
candidates communicate with their respective constituencies (Columbia Journalism Review.
2018). Ten years ago, there was hardly any sort of social media. Ten years ago, candidates
did not speak directly to the common public by means of social channels and each day,
people did not have outlets like today to share and debate upon their political views (Somaiya
2018). In present days, social media has given the candidates a direct line of communication
and it is indeed a positive change. With the same, at the time of elections, the candidates are
constantly under the microscope and the new technological changes allows the media to have
a close view of them. Social media platforms runs in real time and that too, with large range
of channels, right from YouTube to Twitter, the words of the candidates are dissected and
replayed again. Such a continuous monitoring of the activities has brought in more
transparency for the elections.
2. What changes has Facebook and other forms of social media brought to the news media?
How is the news presented differently to readers and viewers than it was 10 or 20 years ago?
Answer- Social media has changed the entire landscape of consumption of news. People no
longer turned to radio, television and radio for the news (Buzzfeednews.com 2018). In
present days, people get them through social media instantly. They are getting their news
either from Facebook, Twitter or YouTube instead of turning on their television or going
through the headlines of newspapers. Also, people today barely pay for newspaper.
3. What are the benefits of these changes in news media? How the different ways news as it
is presented, benefited consumers? How has is benefited journalism?

2CREATING SOCIAL MEDIA
Answer- The most significant benefit to mention is that people today, get news update sitting
anywhere and at any time. They get instant news updates without waiting to go home and
turning on television or waiting for newspaper the next morning. As the ways, the news are
presented in current days, the consumers are getting a huge benefit. Online news services are
the primary source of daily and instant news updates for near about 40% of the US
population. The current trend towards finding out and consuming the news by means of
social media platforms instead of coming directly to their personal sites leaves most of the
publishers struggling with what it means for their business. There is a high need for them to
determine if they are able to work with these technology giants in a way that helps them in
getting paid for their contents as well as to get an access to the highly valuable data regarding
the patterns of the users to consume news
4. What are the demerits of these changes in the news media? How the different ways news
has is presented hurt consumers? How has it hurt journalism?
Answer- In present days, social media has completely replaced the earlier days’ serious news
with the viral, trending and the buzz worthy ones. News were something that was discussed
over dinner table in serious voice tones and by making use of grown-up vocabulary. People
used to respect the news media and the function that they played in the society. However,
today it has become a rich source of amusing internet memes. No one read the full article
now. They just read the headlines and check out the images. The media industry is also facing
a challenge as there is a rising concerns around the fake news (Columbia Journalism Review
2018). People are getting hurt by such fake news and this has hit the level of confidence of
the consumers in news media. Furthermore, social media is crushing the business model for
the quality journalism. Also, social media is training the consumers to consume news in each
smaller bites and this is a huge disaster for the magazines and newspapers.

3CREATING SOCIAL MEDIA
References:
Somaiya, R. (2018). How Facebook Is Changing the Way Its Users Consume Journalism.
[online] Nytimes.com. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/business/media/how-facebook-is-changing-the-way-
its-users-consume-journalism.html [Accessed 31 Oct. 2018].
Buzzfeednews.com. (2018). [online] Available at:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/2016-election-blew-up-in-facebooks-
face [Accessed 31 Oct. 2018].
Columbia Journalism Review. (2018). The media today: Twitter decides what is newsworthy.
[online] Available at: https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/twitter-newsworthiness.php
[Accessed 31 Oct. 2018].