Journalism is changing in front of our very eyes and social media is responsible for a large part of that change and most people within the industry see it as a bad thing as print media and traditional advertising models come under pressure. People share information on services like Twitter, bloggers break news and plenty of sites copy and paste the work of people in traditional media. It might seem like social media is mostly a negative thing for the industry but journalists are having to embrace the new mediums and those who don’t are missing out. Social media tools should be an integral part of every journalism course because those who don’t understand it or who fail to embrace it will get swallowed up themselves in the tide of change.

Sea Of Information

Social media provides a huge open sea of information that needs to be absorbed. With over a billion tweets sent every week there is no doubt that much of it is rubbish about what people had for breakfast but there is also a wealth of information in social media and increasingly it is where the stories are to be found. Journalists of the future need to be totally familiar with tools like Twitter, Tweetdeck, Facebook, RSS and other ways that they can process information. Everything from opinion formers to sources can be found on social media and although it shouldn’t be the only medium used it is vital that journalists have a good understanding of processing information in this digital age.

Tools like Tweetdeck are essential to help absorb information

Network Makes Journalists More Valuable

If two journalists walked in to my office today applying for a job I would of course primarily look at their writing skills but the second thing I would be looking at would be their networks and social media presence. Their personal brand. If one had 100 followers on Twitter with little interaction and the second had 5000 and used the medium constantly it would be a simple choice in the favor of the later. The network of a journalist will bring you new readers, stories and add kudos to the brand. Journalists are becoming mini brands and without a strong social media presence they will earn less money. There could be no greater incentive to use social media than making yourself more valuable.

As a journalist your are only as powerful as your online network

Journalists May Have To Go It Alone

Given the pressure that many publications are under and the fact that eyeballs are moving online and titles are closing by the day many journalists may find themselves in a position where they are out of work. The revenue models are just not working any more in the real world and with publications struggling to make money online many can’t afford to hire new journalists. Many journalists have to realize that they may have to go it alone online or spend time networking to get a job. The people with large established networks and good social media experience will land on their feet and could even start their own individual publication to generate money.

Technology Lowering Barriers To Entry

Anybody can start a media empire from their bedroom these days. It used to be to get published you would need to have a journalism degree and a job in somewhere that printed copies of your work. The emergence of the web and sites like WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr mean that anybody can start publishing in seconds. For journalists this means tons more competition in their field. Look at us here we have never been to journalism school yet we publish 5 or 6 articles a day. On the good side smart phones with built in HD video, free podcasting tools and easy to build websites mean that any journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit can set up their own media site in no time. The only thing that limits you online is your own creativity because all the tools are there.

You can do anything these days from a laptop and a phone

SEO leaning towards individuals

We are at the very start of the journey but Google and others are starting to attach more importance on individual authors in search results. As you can see in the image below Google are starting to add profile pictures (from Google+) in to their search results to articles. People will be able to follow and click on stories from their favorite journalists in years to come which means that journalists will become just as important as the titles they work for in years to come. The results will be determined by the quality of the writing and the power of your network so understanding how this works will only make journalists more valuable.

Individuals are starting to show up in Google search results

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