Mumbai terrorist attacks had Twitter users twitering about the attacks at a lightning pace. This same pattern of lightning response can be traced to Obama’s win earlier this month. It can also be traced to the China earthquake as well. I must point out that both Asia and the U.S. have adopted similar uses for Twitter in major incidences.
Twitter outstripped the mainstream media in terms of delivery of news and many were proclaiming that citizen journalism via micro blogging was the way to go. It’s interesting to note that CNN actually used the photo sharing site Flickr to compliment it’s reporting. Google map was also used to share the location of the building.
While the role of micro blogging is ever more prominent in delivering news fast, it tends to repeat the same things over and over without any insights or additional information. The 140 word limit is a double edged sword. It allows swift spreading of the message but it lacks the details of any major incident.
In all instances, the starting point of any new discussions on microblogging came from mainstream media. While I’m an advocate of web2.0, mainstream media still has it’s place in providing credible news. Deeper insights can be found via citizen journalism by longer blog postings.
For now i see micro-blogging playing the role of the message spreader in our society. Quick lightning approach of the general topic of a major incident. Any details will be found in mainstream media which will simulate thought process amongst opinions leaders to share with the rest of the blogosphere.
Do you have a different viewpoint has to how micro-blogging is being used?
Came acros this article today regarding the drop in shares of Apple with a rumour that Steve Jobs ahd a heart attack. The rumour is as follows
Steve Jobs was rushed to the ER just a few hours ago after suffering a major heart attack. I have an insider who tells me that paramedics were called after Steve claimed to be suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath. My source has opted to remain anonymous, but he is quite reliable. I haven’t seen anything about this anywhere else yet, and as of right now, I have no further information, so I thought this would be a good place to start. If anyone else has more information, please share it.
This brought about 2 conerns on my part. Firstly, its that this rumour was sparked by citizen journalism. Secondly, should a company’s reputation be so intrinsically linked to the CEO?
Regarding the first point, i did a post on citizen journalism a while back and it was amazing to see the shift in power was not only going to consumers in a marketing and communicaitons perspective, but rather the fact that they have control of the kind of news they can publish. However, this rumour sparked off by citizen journalism is terrible. It undermines the credibility in which news by citizen journalism is being published. Do they just push tabloid news which are based on rumours which are completly false? Thats y i did the post on the blogosphere becoming the next tabloid and the ehtical guidelines blogging should have to prevent such a thing from happeneing!
The second concern was how a CEO should be linked with the company’s reputation so tightly. I mean, the CEO is just a figurehead who can be replaced at anytime with someone with equal capabilities. It doesn’t mean if Steve Job dies, Apple is gonna shut down. They’ve already built such a great brand and although their CEO is an extremely great presenter, my concern is ‘Should Apple’s reputation have such a great dependence on their CEO?’
I did the post on Asian CEOs and online videos, stating how i tot it would be good for Asain companies to use their CEOs like how Apple uses Steve Jobs. However, shouldn’t we draw a line on the dependence of a CEO for the company’s reputation?
But Tech Crunch gave a good reccomendation at the end of their article stating that it would be good if a heir is named to the Apple throne. This would definetly ease the worry of shareholders and other stakeholders.
So a dip in Apple shares has brought out some profound effects for me to think about…
Today was omg busy… I mean, like hard labor busy. But hey, that’s what interns are for ya? Hahahaha…. i’m just glad its it’s over and i cant wait to hit the sheets after this post, so today’s write up is gonna be short…
I looked at the pros and cons of it, how some countries used it, and wondered at the end if a suppressed culture promotes citizen journalism. Loved the Myanmar and China examples.
So yeah, thats it for the past wek and today. (See! Short and snappy!)
But I’m tired and i wanna read my book b4 i sleep. I hope tmr I’ll be alive enough to do JUST FOR FUN Tuesdays!!
What is citizen Journalism? For the noobs (Like myself with only a vague and fuzzy idea of the concept), its
Citizen journalism, also known as public or participatory journalism, is the act of citizens “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information,”
You can read more from the wikipedia definition here.
More interestingly, its the criticisms of it that have aroused my interest in this topic. Social media has changed the ball game for all marketing and PR efforts, putting the power of communications in the audience. Social media now has affected journalism too. With journalism’s primary aim of being objective and presenting a fair view, certain citizen journalisms do not adhere by this code.Some might argue it presents the suppressed voices of the people, but at times, it presents a slightly skewed version of the truth.
This has lead journalism.sg to conduct a survey on “How credible are socio-political blogs in Singapore? ” It also begs the question which Mitch Joel asks, “Is witnessing the same as being a journalists?” Especially with events and how journalists should or shouldn’t be given exclusive passes to events.
So how does this affect PR folks? I haven’t been in the industry long enough (2 months and I’m probably a blade of grass in the PR forest) and I’m not too sure how it does in reality. This is solely based on what I have read and my perspective. I would love if someone correct me if I’m wrong (Better to look a fool here than when I’m doing a job interview, lol…) So here’re some examples of what I’ve found and its growing importance…
I think we all heard this one, where presidential candidate Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama , was heard making racial remarks on the blue collared white workers in America. Despite the sketchy sources, it almost proved to be a dent in the Obama camp… Consider also how effective Obama has been using social media with great interaction… Double edge sword… Too much credibility placed on citizen journalism? Dangerous considering how fickle people can be when it comes to voting…
Now don’t get me wrong, what I’ve presented so far may seem to put citizen journalism in a bad light, but really, there are benefits too! Remember the suppressed voice of the people I was talking about?
What better place than to turn to look at Asia… Where freedom of speech isn’t exactly our motto…
Myanmar has seen hard times, with the cyclone this year and the hike in oil prices leading to the suppressed riots last year, the voice of the people had to be heard, just check out this video below…
How about China? With the Olympics coming up, China too has seen rough times. Firstly with the Tibet issue, then with the earthquake and a few months from now, the greatest sporting event in the world, the Olympics. The China brand for 2008 will be interesting to review. China has been known for its “Great firewall of China” and with the citizen journalists using various techniques to go around the authorities, the voices of the people are more prominent than ever.
However, China has been praised for its transparency in the recent earthquake disaster. Its a great move forward and the Olympics will see if China is gonna “Take one step forward and back” or full steam ahead with openness and allowing citizen journalists to voice their opinions. Check out this video and this wiki fore more details:
So with 2 sides of the coin presented, when is an ideal situation to merge traditional and social journalism?
I think sports are a great way to go (See, one more window for sports 2.0, *smirks*)…
This article on a sports fans network Bleach, whose content is based on citizen journalists. They recently announced a partnership with Fox. Its a great step as sports journalism has always been trying to increase interaction with the audience. Its great check for traditional with citizen journalism, awesome mash up. I’m wondering now if the ESPN Soccernet website has done something like this?
Of course, with great power comes great responsibility…
I love spidey… haha, but don’t do what this dude did… Accusing a singaporean judge for “prostituting herself”… He blogged about it in US but was still arressted. Which makes the law scene pretty interesting huh? Guess we gotta watch what we say…
Here’re a nice sites I found if you interested in going into citizen journalism… here and here
I guess at the end of the day, this new form of journalism is here to stay (Oh man the media monitoring just increased 10 fold…) haha… As usually, this leaves me with more questions…
Will this form of journalism be taken as seriosuly as the traditional and credible media? Will the different cultures play a part? If a country is more suppressed, will it make citizen journalism more credible?
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Gaining insights in communications in a digital world
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