With the use of social media and cellphones at a constant increase, it is common for news outlets to promote and publicize their platforms through these growing sources. Twitter gives users the ability to instantly post what they have to say to the world, in 140 characters or less. Instagram is used for publicizing photos and videos.
Snapchat, another popular application, has created a “Discover” section, in which companies create a short collection of photos and videos each day for their Snapchat customers. This newfound news outlet is great for large companies, such as Cosmopolitan, who reach up to three million views a day.
The Oxford Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism released a 2016 report of how people are informed of the news (click here to see the report.) This report displays the most popular social media apps being used for the news around the world. They are Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Twitter.
A Twitter poll was posted to see how this chart related to our own area. The choices on this poll were Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat. Twitter was the winner with 57 percent of the votes. In second was Snapchat, with 29 percent of the votes. Facebook had 14 percent of the votes, while Instagram received 0 percent of the votes.
Senior Ashley Olsen believes Twitter is liked by so many people because, “It’s a social media platform where everyone is given a support network. Most importantly, people love using Twitter because it lets you see the the whole world is thinking and doing.”
Senior Aslana Soobzokov said, “Social media has widened the audience and impact of the news. It’s easier to access and it is given to us to spread at a quick pace amongst a large amount of people.”
On the other hand, Junior Kerima Soobzokov does not like social media. She said,“It causes unnecessary drama. I feel like fights I have had could have been avoided if it was handled in person instead of social media. Social media definitely has its pros and cons.”
