How is Citizen Journalism in today’s society using Social Media to improve

and contribute to traditional media?

Kerrie Lynn Singh

What Is Citizen Journalism? Citizen Journalism is where members of the

public perform the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and disseminating news and information.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

The evolution of Citizen Journalism

Citizen Journalists have become more and more popular over the years. Especially encouraged by the current advances in technology and social media.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Social Media and Citizen Journalism

Social media sites such as twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube have many benefits to offer citizen journalists. These sites allow for the uploading of any thoughts and news at any time during the day.

News and events can be discussed as soon as it happens on these sites. Instead of the traditional wait until it is aired on traditional media like the radio or television or newspapers.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Technology and Citizen Journalism

Technology has improved greatly since traditional media was first introduced and journalists has taken advantage of every opportunity they could have. Now with the current advances it makes it much easier for citizens to become journalists.

Cellular phones now come fully prepared for the reporting of accidents and items worth talking about. They have cameras and have social media applications on them. Thus making it very easy for a citizen to collect and report the news at hand.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Technology and Citizen Journalism Continued

As soon as something worth tweeting about is at hand, discussions are started and the news spread as quickly as wildfire. Good or bad, citizen journalists are taking advantage of technology and social media and traditional journalists have too keep up with them and learn of ways to use this to their advantage.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Quality of News Social media in cooperation with technology

has definitely increased the speed of the spread of news and information across the web.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Quality of News Continued As social media has impacted the speed of

news and information, there are sometimes situations where this news can be misinterpreted and misleading. It is only human nature to add and edit what they hear to make it sound better in their minds and this tendency is what makes the “unofficial news” unreliable.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Advantages of Citizen Journalism

It leads professional journalists to the site of the news.

It also has on the spot footage and pictures of the event; pictures that society would never be able to see if it was not for a citizen who took the pictures.

There is never a small story for citizen journalists. Every bit of news counts.

Speed – the internet allows for the uploading of news and information instantaneously.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Advantages of Citizen Journalism Continued

Simplicity - technology has come a long way and even though many mobile cameras are not high-tech like the ones that professional journalists use it still does the trick. Once a citizen is equipped with a mobile phone and or with internet and a camera; news and information can be transferred to blogs and social networks sites in just moments.

Low cost – being a citizen journalist cost you little to no money since most of us are already fully equipped with a camera and internet. All you need to collect and report news and information .

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Advantages of Citizen Journalism Continued

Gaps – professional journalists tend to omit the underlying, not interesting facts of an event. They want readers and an audience so they just give us the interesting parts to a story. Citizen journalists on the other hand do not care about an audience and give readers the full story when reporting (which is usually posting) a story or an event.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Disadvantages of Citizen Journalism

Lack of Professionalism – Yes, it is called citizen journalism but when a story is reported even in a post on Facebook or a video on YouTube professionalism is key. Communication skills are needed especially writing and speaking skills for the comprehension of a good article or reporting of an event.

Unreliable – we are dealing with humans here, and it is human nature to edit an event to their own likeness. Therefore it makes the “unofficial news” unreliable.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Disadvantages of Citizen Journalism Continued

Lack of an Audience – If published on a social media site such as Facebook or twitter your audience is limited to your friends. If posted in a blog your audience tends to be a bit greater but it would never be as big as a worldwide broadcast on the television or radio. Citizen journalists just do not have a large enough audience to make a real change in the world.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Professional Journalism and Citizen Journalism

Can professional journalists combine with citizen journalists to produce a better quality of news and information? Yes, some of these ways are outlined as follows:

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Professional Journalism and Citizen Journalism Continued

Some traditional media organizations have already started to do so. For example traditional media websites are now encouraging its readers and viewers to comment and contribute to their content. By embracing social media, this leads to the improvement and growth of traditional media sites and organizations; they are now allowed to view people’s opinions and suggestions to their news and information.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Professional Journalism and Citizen Journalism Continued

Another example is that, some organizations have realized that YouTube is the fastest growing social media on the World Wide Web. This has encouraged them to post their information directly on the site and afterward view the comments and number of likes and dislikes.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Professional Journalism and Citizen Journalism Continued

Some organizations are also taking into consideration the busy lifestyle of citizens today and have realized that by posting their videos online they ultimately gain more viewers and get more useful, important comments and feedbacks.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be stated that the quality of citizen journalism has been greatly increased and that once used in the appropriate ways it will also increase the quality of traditional media as well. Citizens are entitled to their own opinions and with the use of social media many traditional media organizations will be informed of these opinions and what they can do to improve for their audience.

Kerrie Lynn Singh

Social Media and Citizen Journalism

Thank you for your time and attention. I hope that this presentation was useful and informative to you.