Established news organizations have long explored using emerging trends to broaden their consumer base. From news reels at movie theaters, to broadcasting podcasts, news companies always find ways to tap into different media outlets. Today, as internet technologies create new avenues for entertaining and informing a public increasingly spending more time online, news organizations must discover ways to use new media and social networks to reach them.
Understanding the News Industry
The news industry provides a relevant and essential service to the public. But news is a competitive business, with news agencies dependent upon reaching large numbers of consumers in order to increase market share. News organizations lure advertisers through ratings, and advertising dollars allow them to earn the revenue to fund their operations and hopefully, increase profits.
As more people turn to the Internet to access news and information, news organizations realize that they must create a stronger presence there to attract a wider audience. No longer can established news companies rely on consumers to tune into their broadcasts or buy their papers. To reach a greater audience, they must now go to where people are. Tapping into the powerful resource of social network sites allows news agencies to increase their reach, targeting wider audiences while minimizing expenses.
Why Social Network Websites
According to The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, the internet has now surpassed newspapers as the second most popular source for news and information. And though 70% of the Pew Center survey respondents still cited television as their main source for news, that number is rapidly falling. But, as for people under the age of 3o, 60% of them get their news from online sources instead of television. These numbers represent a growing and consistent shift from newspapers and television news, to the internet.
As newspaper and television consumers decline, social networking sites are booming. TechCrunch.com reports that social network monsters MySpace and Facebook "are each attracting around 115 million people to their respective sites each month." Twitter's growth has been even more astounding, with a 131% increase in unique visitors between March and April 2009. These numbers translate into an already available market for news, giving social network users the ability to connect immediately to breaking stories, or simply monitor news stories without leaving their favorite social networking site.
How News Organizations Can Use Social Networks
There are a number of ways that news organizations can benefit from the use of social network sites.
- Advertising: Internet advertising has proven to be an effective means for businesses to increase traffic to their primary website. Advertising on social media sites allows news organizations to reach audiences that they may not normally reach. Especially with younger web users.
- Webcasts: Setting up a page on the major social networks with webcasts streaming real-time news and information allows visitors to receive newscasts without leaving the site. The site can also be used to give periodical updates on new stories being followed.
- Links: Adding links about newsworthy stories to popular pages within a networking site increases both site visits and web presences. Links also enhance search engine rankings within a specific niche.
- Twittering: Many news organizations have already found the benefits of Twitter. Current users already "tweet" news headlines, attached to a web address. Establishing a network of friends and followers on the site allows the opportunity to broadcast major news stories over a vast network in just 140 characters.
- Pinging: Ping.fm offers a unique service which allows users to create short messages or announcements, and then post them to more than 20 social network sites at once. It also attaches a "tinyurl", which is a shorter version of the standard web address, minimizing the number of characters needed to post the message. This is great for immediate postings to Twitter, and other social networking sites at the same time.