Joshua Waldman on Social Media

OurBlook interview with Joshua Waldman, MBA, social media strategist ... http://CareerEnlightenment.net.

What are the advantages of social media for journalists?

JW: Despite the hype about social media, the true advantage falls on the lap of the consumers of the content. Journalism will have to change fundamentally in order to compete with the barrage of free, user-generated content now available. Apart from simply scalping some interesting Twitter feeds or finding an opinion on an obscure blog, journalists will be faced with job reduction, higher standards of accuracy and less financial incentives then ever before.

The system of journalistic reporting has become influenced by corporate greed, the need to get ratings and the rise of sensationalistic stories. The essence of objective reporting of facts has been lost. Now is the chance for the most idealistic of journalists to take things back to their core. Because they are going to be more and more accountable to their audience, rather than to a board of directors, journalists can bring back their spirit of equality and objectivism.

The freelance journalist can publish through any medium he finds suitable or convenient at the time.

What are the drawbacks?

JW: The most frightening drawback to people relying on social media for news is the risk of hyper-isolation and intolerance for differing opinions. Where in traditional media, we don’t have a choice of the articles or authors. Each newspaper, for example, might have its own political leaning, and some favorite columnists.

But if readers choose to get news from a blog, that blog has a single author and single political point of view. There tends to be less dialog and discourse in a blog. Which means that conservatives will be less exposed to differing arguments and more entrenched in their own positions. Vice versa with liberals.

If neither side gets exposure to other points of view, doesn’t this make us isolationists and extremists? For me, the implications are quite frightening. And I hope that journalists, real journalists, keep to their ideals and help those entrenched readers gain exposure to differing opinion.

Will social media play even more of a role in the future of journalism, or do you see this trend slacking off?

JW: If you do a Google trends report on the words, “Social Media” the term is clearly trending upward with little sign of slacking off: http://www.google.com/trends?q=%22web+2.0%22%2C+%22new+media%22%2C+%22Social+Media%22%2C

Though I certainly cannot predict the future, the signs of huge disruption in journalism are quite evident. Layoffs, cameramen doing the reporting because TV stations can’t afford field reporters, and the rise of sites like Examiner all point to a growing, not waning, trend in the adoption of SM in journalism. The Examiner takes advantage of local focused news from average everyday people who volunteer their time to share their information. This is the first time that a group of bloggers have been organized into its own news-reporting system.

Many more journalists in the years ahead may be free-lancers or contract employees instead of staff writers. Do you see any differences in the uses of social media for them as opposed to staffers?

JW: Without a doubt! Staff writers created a precedent for the free consumption of information on the Internet. Newspapers set an expectation that news is free. Despite the fact that news has never been free, $0.50 for a printed newspaper, and $50/month for TV prove the point. Magazines have done a much better job by attaching online versions only to paid paper subscriptions.

Now these journalists, having given away their content for free, are losing their jobs and starting off on their own. They will be forced to find new ways of monetizing their writing which will go in one of two ways.

First they will either become extremely sensationalistic like: rightwingnews.com Or kunstler.com/blog

The other direction will be in terms of filtering and analysis backed by actual facts. Sites like smartbrief.com summarize the news without any analysis, and those news sources are both from bloggers and newspapers.

Do you see any one form of social media as being more important to journalists than others?

JW: Putting form around social media is difficult. Currently, Facebook is the big thing. However, more journalistic value seems to come from Twitter (for real time) and blogging (for analysis and summary). In my opinion, I think blogging is the most useful form of social media for two reasons. First, the speed to press is instant, so the news comes out fast. Second, there is space for community and reader feedback.

Is there anything else you'd like to say about social media and journalism?

JW: Nothing that I can think of, thanks for this opportunity!

(Joshua says, "I’ve been using social media for my career since 2006 and business consulting since 2001. In 2006, I started the LinkedIn group for Cisco that now has 22,000 people in it. ... I grew up in Providence R.I., then I went to undergrad in Providence, R.I. So when the opportunity to move as far away as possible presented itself, I took it. ... And I’ve always wanted to learn the Tibetan language. ... So I studied abroad in Nepal, in a Tibetan refugee community. And I just stayed in Asia for the next three years. When I took the job with Cisco, I was moved to the desert on assignment. So, after Cisco, we moved up to Portland, Ore., where it rains, has four seasons and still has the groovy West Coast vibe." Want more? Read him at http://careerenlightenment.net/about/joshuawaldman.)

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Comments (1)

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