Breaking news is no longer “turn on the TV, I need to find out what everyone is talking about” type of event.
Nowadays, more and more people are getting their breaking news straight from Facebook and Twitter. But that’s not it. They are getting this information from accounts and handles that are NOT your traditional reporter or news outlet.
From friends and family members to the coincidental follower, news is breaking more often on Twitter than on standard news sites. Why is this? Well, there are two reasons.
One is the editorial procedure of confirming credible information and publicizing the news and the other is simply the mouthpiece that social media provides to ordinary citizens.
Now, if someone witnesses an event or hears a credible rumor, they do not have to call up a local news outlet to spread the word. It used to be that journalists and news outlets were the only resources large enough to publicize important information.
But now the playing field has leveled and traditional media is struggling to keep up.
So where do traditional reporters go from here?
The important thing to remember is that traditional media and most journalists possess a key element that ordinary social media users lack – credibility. Because of the frequency of rumors spread online, it is often hard to believe certain breaking news items unless it comes from a reputable source.
Therefore, traditional news outlets will always hold the upper hand. Which leads us to what ultimately will keep journalists and traditional media alive – rapid response infrastructure and tracking.
Ordinary citizens will break the news, reporters will have a pre-outlined procedure (and someday, software) to contact the initial source directly via social media and editors will immediately feature a Tweet or post across all platforms publicizing the verified content.
We predict that in the near future, more and more reporters will utilize this system and some companies will even offer training and software to enhance the practice.
Until then, what aspects of the rapid response infrastructure do you think are needed? Here are some of our suggestions:
Keyword tracking
Origin tracking
Comprehensive and integrated trending news ticker
User account verification software
