Social media has created a multitude of new channels and transformed the level of individual access to broad distribution capabilities that traditionally has been controlled by media giants. This game changing trend serves both the individual and corporations equally as a new variable in the dissemination of information and marketing messaging. Some clear examples of the speed social media has occurred in the past months with the news of Japan’s disaster and death of Osama bin Laden.
Even before the President cloud address the world on a surprise news conference last Sunday, the the news was already breaking on social media channels. The first part of the story began to break, not from journalists or officials, but from residents from Abbottabad as the operation began. Sohaib Athar was on of the first to mention on Twitter that unidentified helicopters where flying over his home in Abbottabad. Twitter confirms that by 2am on May 1st, users were tweeting at a rate of 3400+ tweets per second on the topic. Social networking ranked third, at in a Washington Post poll, behind network news and cable news, of people 18 – 34 years old that learned about the story through social media vs. broadcast channels. Even this example of speed and volume of communication is modest in comparison to the 7,000 tweets per second at the height of the tsunami and following earth quakes in Japan.
These trends bring many new questions to mind in terms of factors to consider when exposed to this communication medium or planning to use them:
- The speed at which news breaks now as phenomenal velocity. Whether this is world news or perhaps corporate news like Toyota’s recent product recalls. PR teams in corporations need to be prepared to respond immediately and stay engaged in the conversations.
- News is forever changed due to having direct input from actual participants and observers at the events. While this has the benefit of removing media “filtering,” it also opens the door for inaccuracy or disinformation. Certainly, the voice of bias or special interest groups can be seen within the conversation.
- Analytics will play an ever increasing roll of understanding the flow of information and the quality of sources. The ability to trace who, what, where, when to understand the source of the information and potential accuracy will be critical. As that capability matures, it is important for corporations to remain active in a conversation that affects their brand to assure accurate information is being provided, questions answered and disinformation called out.
- The social media revolution is not just a USA based phenomenon. Respondents from Abbottabad, in our example above, where using twitter – but readily stated that Facebook is more prevalent in the area – that is an interesting statement. Analysis for Japan’s disaster conversation also show a variety of disparity on which channels types of information flowed. That spanned eye witness information, government responses, and the actual participation from professional media sources. So the take away is it important to do the analytics by geography to see what channels they use culturally and which voices/information tends to exist on which channels.
- What are the overall legal implications of social media conversations. Can people/organizations be liable for disinformation, if used maliciously? Can the data be analyzed and submitted in court as proof of actual events, conduct of organizations or comprehensiveness of actions taken. How do these laws very across international boundaries with a global participate base?
The implications and complexity is extraordinary. Though it is clear that these recent exceptional global events provide a unique opportunity to study the trends, impact, and patterns of how social media is transforming the word. Understanding those implications will have profound outcomes on the strategies of government, politics, corporations, organizations, and individuals.
tomorrowfromtoday
0 Responses to “The Speed of Social Media – Breaking News”