Social Media as a News Source

Practical Research Skills

Portfolio of Evidence

Social Media as News Source

Table of Contents

1. Scope and Rationale p. 3 2.0 Research Problem p. 3 2.1 Concept Map p. 3 2.2 Questions p. 5

2. Search Plan p. 6 3.3 Search Activities p. 6 3.4 Publications p. 7

3. Operatonalisation p. 10 4.5 Operationalisation Scheme p. 10 4.6 Questions for interview p. 10

4. Data Analysis p. 11 5.7 Coding p. 11 5.8 Conclusions p. 12

5. References p. 13

Social Media as a News Source

1. Scope and rationale

1.0 Research Problem

Only a few years ago, social media didn’t exist. People sat down with their coffee in the morning reading the latest news headlines in the newspaper, and in the evening in front of their TV for the 8 o’clock news. These were the main news portals together with radio, magazines and a handful of news sites. Reporters and journalists knew they had to deliver news before a certain time; there was room to check your sources, for research on your topic and for the editor in chief to check on your work. Nowadays, things have changed. Social media is becoming the most influencing news source, at the expense of traditional news sources. The Arab Spring for instance, started in December 2010, is also called the ‘twitter revolution’ because of the high involvement of social media during and before the revolts.

The emerge of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, newsgroups, YouTube and many more has made it possible for everyone, from everywhere on the planet, to post everything, whenever they feel like it. No boundaries are set, no one checks on content. It’s all about who’s able to bring news the quickest. The news flow has definitely became a lot faster, but is this rise a positive change? Are social media news sources reliable?

1.1 Concept Map

I’ve created a concept map around the central words Social Media as news, as that is the main topic of my research. I’ve included the origins of this new news-form because I believe it’s important to see the link between modern society and all its incidentals and the rise of social media. This rise creates different threats and opportunities as well as an effect on traditional media, which loses ground to those emerging forms of new media.

Social Media as News Source

Direct cause > Grow of internet users worldwide | accessibility of internet | hunger for news | urge to share
Indirect causes > Globalization | limited press freedom | digitalizing society
Characteristics > News published immediately | global access to news | everyone can post
Lead to > Upcoming of blogs | twitter | Facebook | etc.
Results > Traditional media lose ground in terms of reach and advertising | news travels fast
Creates > Opportunities; Interaction | transparent world | censorship impossible Threats: No control | personal interest involved | pressure to go with hype | no time or tools to check facts
All influences > Content

1.2 Questions

Research question

Is social media a reliable news source?

The rise of social media created a shift in media land: traditional media suffers of heavy competition of the new kinds of media. This shift doesn’t pass on silently: there is a lot of criticism on the reliability and trustworthy of social media as a news source. In order to find out is this criticism is correct, the reliability of social media as a news source has to be researched. Is it truly unreliable or is it just a repercussion of the traditional media?

I consider this an interesting topic because it is very relevant to the present time, and therefore a lot of information is to be found; mostly online.

Policy question

How can you make sure news is reliable?

In order to be able to judge about the reliability of social media, you have to know what makes a news source reliable. Is the source checked? Is there any relevant material (photo, video) available, and if so: is this content authentic? What’s the purpose of the writer? I want to research this by investigating how a news is established via social media: a step-by-step analysis, and see what’s the difference with traditional media.

Sub-questions

What’s the genesis of social media as a news source?
It’s important to understand how social media has evolved into the state it is now, because you can learn a lot about its core and the users.

What is the difference between social media and traditional media?
In order to find out whether social media is a less or more trustworthy news source compared to traditional media, research has to be conducted about how the two differ in terms of establishing, publishing, checking sources, etc.

What’s the influence of the rise of social media on the traditional media?
How has the upcoming social media affected the traditional media? Is there more pressure to publish fast? How does traditional media cope with the emerge of social media?
How are traditional media handling social media? Do they see them as threatening or do they see opportunities? Or are they ignoring the new media? This question is about the conscious policy of traditional media, the previous about the unconscious effects.

What are the plus and minus of social media as news?
To understand social media as a news source it’s important to now it’s plus and minus.
2. Search Plan

2.0 Search Activities

Search questions

What is the genesis of social media as news source?
What are the characteristics of reliable news?
What are the characteristics of social media news?
What are the characteristics of traditional media?

Keywords

Social media Twitter revolution News sources
Social media impact Virtual World Traditional media
Social media news Important bloggers Reliable news
Social media influence Influence of blogs News media
Social media history News groups influence Digitalizing society
Social media rise Traditional media sources Censorship
Social media reliable

Synonyms and related definitions

New media Social communication Mass media
Press Trustworthy information Safe news sources

The synonyms and keywords stated above are all topics relevant to social media, news, communication and reliability of information: therefore applicable for my research.

Limiters

Article type: ‘Interview’ or ‘essay’ may be good for some deeper information from media experts for instance.
Documents with full text: To exclude citation-only and abstract-only articles
Library holdings: Useful for HU databases
Peer-reviewed publications: To conduct an academic research, peer-reviewed publications are most useful because of the scientific foundation.

Database/search engines

Google
Google Scholar
Microsoft Academic Search
HU Database

I’m going to use these databases and search engines because I believe these cotain the most valuable information.
2.1 Publications

Article 1: Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media by Andreas M. Kaplan

http://michaelhaenlein.com/Publications/Kaplan,%20Andreas%20-%20Users%20of%20the%20world,%20unite.pdf

Description: Scientific article about what social media is exactly: ‘a platform whereby content and applications are no longer created and published by individuals, but instead are continuously modified by all users in a participatory and collaborative fashion.’ Challenges and opportunities are being outlined, as well as 10 advices for organizations to use social media for business purposes. It’s some kind of guideline how to cope with social media.

This article is relevant for the research problem because it clarifies what social media is in a specific way, what helps answer the research question. Challenges and opportunities of social media can help answer the question of plus and minus’ of social media as a news source.

Quality of source by C.A.R.S. method

Credibility

1. Is there a publishing or sponsoring organization? Is the organization an authority on the subject? No organization involved. 2. Is the author listed? Is the author an authority on the subject? How do you know? The author is a Doctor in Business Administration as well as a Social Media specialist at ESPC Europe, so you can say he’s an authority. 3. Are there any spelling errors, grammar errors, dead links, or other problems that indicate a lack of quality control? No.

Accuracy

1. Does the information on the site agree with other sources? Yes, there are a lot of references in the article that refer to other scientific research that contains the same info. 2. Does the site contradict itself? The site doesn’t contradict itself. It makes statements and supports those in the text. 3. What is the date of publication or copyright? January- February 2010. 4. How recently has the site been updated? Never, it’s an individual article.

Reasonableness

1. Does the author, host, publisher, or sponsor have a bias? The author is a professor in the field of social media, so he’ll most likely be a bit extra positive about the subject. 2. What is the motivation or purpose for creating the site (To sell a product? To advance a view pointer belief? To educate?) To educate people about what social media is and how to use it for profitable purposes.

Support

1. Are the sources listed? Can they be checked? Yes, the sources are listed at the bottom of the article. They can be checked. Most of them are scientific books. 2. Is there a way to contact the author or organization? Not stated in the article, but if you Google his name you can find ways to contact him as he’s a professor.

Article 2: Twitter: can it be a reliable source of news? By Janic Tremblay

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102416/Twitter-Can-It-Be-a-Reliable-Source-of-News.aspx

Description: This article is about the reporter, Janic, spending 5 days in a cabin keeping himself updated with news form only social media platforms. He found out most news reaches him, but not all: specially economic news is hardly to be found on Twitter. His conclusion is an advice for journalists to use Twitter to expand their network on Twitter and uses the information broadcasted, but traditional media is still very valuable for checking sources.

This article is relevant for my research problem because it goes deeper into seeing social media (mostly Twitter) as an important, recognized news source.

Quality of source by C.A.R.S. method

Credibility

1. Is there a publishing or sponsoring organization? Is the organization an authority on the subject? Yes, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. 2. Is the author listed? Is the author an authority on the subject? How do you know? The author is Janic Tremblay, journalist for a scientific magazine for over 15 years, so you can say he’s an authority in the journalistic field. 3. Are there any spelling errors, grammar errors, dead links, or other problems that indicate a lack of quality control? No.

Accuracy

1. Does the information on the site agree with other sources? Yes, a lot of other sources see Twitter as a (partly) recognized news source. On the other hand: it’s an experiment, there is no comparable experiment done yet. 2. Does the site contradict itself? The site doesn’t contradict itself. The author tells about his findings and elaborate on those. 3. What is the date of publication or copyright? June 2010. 4. How recently has the site been updated? Continuously.

Reasonableness

1. Does the author, host, publisher, or sponsor have a bias? There is no evidence for the author having a bias. 2. What is the motivation or purpose for creating the site (To sell a product? To advance a view pointer belief? To educate?) The Nieman foundation is a study program for journalists around the world, so its purpose is to educate.

Support

1. Are the sources listed? Can they be checked? There are no sources listed nor to be checked as it is the authors’ own research, conducted by himself. 2. Is there a way to contact the author or organization? Yes, you can easily find the contact info for the Nieman Foundation, and the author can be contacted through his LinkedIn profile

Article 3: Truth in the age of social media by various authors of the Nieman Foundation

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/issue/100072/Summer-2012.aspx

Description: This is a report about how the new media and technologies has made journalism a lot more complex by the overwhelming offer of news, tweets, photos etc., as well as it has made it a lot easier to manipulate news; and how big names in the journalism industry cope with those changes in the media landscape.

This report is relevant to my research topic because it helps understanding if and why new media bring unreliable news and how traditional media copes with that.

Quality of source by C.A.R.S. method

Credibility

1. Is there a publishing or sponsoring organization? Is the organization an authority on the subject? Yes, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard: an authority in the field of journalism 2. Is the author listed? Is the author an authority on the subject? How do you know? There are different authors of the report, but as they all are educated by the Nieman Foundation they’re all authorities on the subject. 3. Are there any spelling errors, grammar errors, dead links, or other problems that indicate a lack of quality control? No, there are no spelling errors or other grammatical mistakes to be found.

Accuracy

1. Does the information on the site agree with other sources? Yes, it uses other sources to found their statements. 2. Does the site contradict itself? The report doesn’t contradict itself, but states and found those statements. 3. What is the date of publication or copyright? Summer 2012. 4. How recently has the site been updated? The report hasn’t been updated.

Reasonableness 1. Does the author, host, publisher, or sponsor have a bias? There is no evidence for the author having a bias. 2. What is the motivation or purpose for creating the site (To sell a product? To advance a view pointer belief? To educate?) The Nieman foundation is a study program for journalists around the world, so its purpose is to educate.

Support

1. Are the sources listed? Can they be checked? Yes, there are sources listed and they are verifiable. 2. Is there a way to contact the author or organization? Yes, you can easily find the contact info for the Nieman Foundation.

3. Operationalisation

3.0 Operationalisation Scheme

Concept | Dimension | Indicator | Question | Social Media as news source | Reliability | Checking sourcesControlling Self-interest involvedCredibility | Is social media a reliable news source? | | | | Is there a control policy for checking news on social media? | | | | Is news on social media more likely to be influenced by self-interest of the writer than traditional media? | | Origin | UsersDigital area | How did social media became such a big news broadcaster? | | Characteristics | PossibilitiesChallenges | What exactly is social media (news)? | | Audience | UsersReach | What audience uses social media to keep themselves up to date? | Journalism | News | JournalistsSources | How can journalists check if their sources are trustworthy? |

3.1 Questions for interview

I’ve created an interview that needs to be held among both traditional journalists as social media news broadcasters. These interviews are supposed to be held personally as the questioner could add some more relevant questions about topics that occur during the interview.

1. How often do you deliver an article? 2. How long do you take to write an article? 3. Do you check your sources? If so, how? 4. Did you ever delivered something you wasn’t sure about the reliability of the content, but published it anyway because of an hype? 5. Do you feel pressure to deliver fast? 6. Do you get paid for articles you deliver? 7. What is your intent when writing articles? 8. What are your ambitions? 9. Are you an independent worker or do you work for an organization? If so, does this organization affect your writings? In what way? 10. Where do you gain information for news?

4. Data Analysis

4.0 Analyzing data by Coding

Open Coding | Axial Coding | Selective Coding | Core Category | Our profession is crumblingIt’s the culture that changed We are, literally, out of touchNot as important to the lives of our audience as we once wereCries in newsroom: we need to have twitter and Facebook!Pressure to be first with breaking stories | Effect on traditional media | Changing Society | Social Media as a New Source | Research show drop in trust in journalistsInternet arrived: people had a choicePeople could find what they wanted elsewhereNo longer just passive recipientsNo need to search for news, it comes to youCulture of information sharing | Reasons for rise | | | Dig deeply into topics Follow your interestsShare knowledgeCollective wisdom and trust | Pros | Characteristics Social Media | | No sources or facts checkedNo clear contextNot clear if it’s hidden advertisement or objective infoTells what people want to hear, not need to hearNo ethics or journalistic skills | Cons | | |
Analyzed Data

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=101897
Why the News Media Became Irrelevant—And How Social Media Can Help
By Michael Skoler

http://flipthemedia.com/2013/03/is-it-journalism-or-is-it-social-media/
Is it journalism, or is it social media?
By Carolyn Higgins

4.1 Conclusions

Though I haven’t evaluated enough data yet to draw a conclusion for my research question, I have found answers for some sub-questions. The influence of the rise of social media on traditional media is not small: traditional media feel threatened and most of them don’t know how to handle the upcoming social media. There are signs of desperation: Cries in newsroom ‘We need to have Twitter and Facebook’, and still not gaining readers. They feel a lot of pressure to be first with breaking news stories. On the other hand, traditional media is still seen as the most reliable news source. Justly: news brought by social media is often no checked on facts, reliability of sources and the content of the news is often left out. Social media can be used for additional info, but as a single news source you shouldn’t believe most you read.

5.0 References

Literature

Baarda, B. (2010). Research this is it! Guide to quantitative and qualitative research.
Groningen/Houten: Noordhoff Uitgevers.

Poynter, R. (2010). The Handbook of Online and Social Media Research. West Sussex: Wiley.

Magazines

Andreas M., Kaplan. 2010 “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media” Elsevier, January-February 2010.

Nieman Reports. Truth in the Age of Social Media. http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/issue/100072/Summer-2012.aspx. Summer 2012

Websites

Carolyn Higgins. Is it journalism, or is it social media? http://flipthemedia.com/2013/03/is-it-journalism-or-is-it-social-media/. Viewed on march 29, 2013.

IHMC. What is a concept map? http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/conceptmap.html. Viewed on march 27, 2013

Janic Tremblay. Twitter: Can It Be a Reliable Source of News? http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102416/Twitter-Can-It-Be-a-Reliable-Source-of-News.aspx. Viewed on march 28, 2013

Learningdomain. Chapter 8: Coding of qualitative data. http://www.learningdomain.com/Chapter8.Coding.pdf. Viewd on march 29, 2013

Michael Skoler. Why the News Media Became Irrelevant—And How Social Media Can Help. http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=101897 Viewed on march 29, 2013

Policymic. Twitter Revolution: How the Arab Spring Was Helped By Social Media. http://www.policymic.com/articles/10642/twitter-revolution-how-the-arab-spring-was-helped-by-social-media. Viewed on march 27, 2013

References: Poynter, R. (2010). The Handbook of Online and Social Media Research. West Sussex: Wiley. Carolyn Higgins. Is it journalism, or is it social media? http://flipthemedia.com/2013/03/is-it-journalism-or-is-it-social-media/. Viewed on march 29, 2013. IHMC. What is a concept map? http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/conceptmap.html. Viewed on march 27, 2013 Janic Tremblay Learningdomain. Chapter 8: Coding of qualitative data. http://www.learningdomain.com/Chapter8.Coding.pdf. Viewd on march 29, 2013 Michael Skoler Policymic. Twitter Revolution: How the Arab Spring Was Helped By Social Media. http://www.policymic.com/articles/10642/twitter-revolution-how-the-arab-spring-was-helped-by-social-media. Viewed on march 27, 2013