scholarly journals Algorithms and the News: Social Media Platforms as News Publishers and Distributors

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-285
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Cetina Presuel ◽  
José Manuel Martínez Sierra
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Online News ◽  
Great Power ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Right To Information

With billons of users, social media platforms (e.g. Facebook) are dominant players in a highly-concentrated online news market. They have great power over the distribution of information to their users, and over the organizations and individuals that produce it. Social media platforms use algorithms to perform functions traditionally belonging to news editors: deciding on the importance of news items and how they are disseminated. However, they do not acknowledge the role they play in informing the public as traditional news media always have and tend to ignore that they also act as publishers of news and the responsibilities associated with that role. This paper argues that it is essential for social media platforms to understand and embrace their role as both news publishers and distributors and highlights the essential responsibilities they must undertake so they can satisfy the information needs of their audiences and protect the public’s right to information.

Opportunities for Qualitative Analysis of Social Media Platforms in Dietetic Research and Practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Meghan Lynch ◽  
Irena Knezevic ◽  
Kennedy Laborde Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Online News ◽  
News Article ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
The Public ◽  
Related Data ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Article Comment

To date, most qualitative knowledge about individual eating patterns and the food environment has been derived from traditional data collection methods, such as interviews, focus groups, and observations. However, there currently exists a large source of nutrition-related data in social media discussions that have the potential to provide opportunities to improve dietetic research and practice. Qualitative social media discussion analysis offers a new tool for dietetic researchers and practitioners to gather insights into how the public discusses various nutrition-related topics. We first consider how social media discussion data come with significant advantages including low-cost access to timely ways to gather insights from the public, while also cautioning that social media data have limitations (e.g., difficulty verifying demographic information). We then outline 3 types of social media discussion platforms in particular: (i) online news article comment sections, (ii) food and nutrition blogs, and (iii) discussion forums. We discuss how each different type of social media offers unique insights and provide a specific example from our own research using each platform. We contend that social media discussions can contribute positively to dietetic research and practice.

Bypassing the press gallery: from Howard to Hanson

2018 ◽  
Vol 167 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Fisher ◽  
David Marshall ◽  
Kerry McCallum
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theoretical Position ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
The Press ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Logic

Traditionally politicians have been dependent on political news media to get their message across to the public. The rise of social media means that politicians can bypass the Press Gallery and publish directly to their target audiences via Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. This article argues that Prime Minister John Howard’s (1996–2007) use of talk back radio and early forays on YouTube were pivotal in the trend towards ‘disintermediation’ in Australian politics. It draws on two studies. One involving interviews with 87 key media actors from the Howard era including journalists, broadcasters, politicians and media advisers; and a second, which includes fresh interviews with contemporary press secretaries. This article examines the shift from a ‘mass media logic’ to a ‘hybrid logic’, considered from a mediatization theoretical position. We also ask important questions about the press gallery’s ongoing relevance in the digital era, when politicians preside over their own social media empires.

scholarly journals Investigating evaluation and news values in news items that are shared through social media

Corpora ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Bednarek
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
English Language ◽  
Online News ◽  
News Values ◽  
News Value ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Linguistic Focus ◽  
News Corpus ◽  
News Sharing

The sharing of news through social media platforms is now a significant part of mainstream online media use and is an increasingly important consideration in journalism practice and production. This paper analyses the linguistic characteristics of online news sharing on Facebook, with a focus on evaluation and news values in a corpus of the 100 ‘most shared’ news items from ‘heritage’ English-language news media organisations. Analyses combine corpus linguistic techniques (semantic tagging, frequency analysis, concordancing) with manual, computer-aided annotation. The main focus is on discursive news values analysis (DNVA), which examines how news values are established through semiotic resources, enabling new empirical insights into shared news and adding a specific linguistic focus to the emerging literature on news sharing. Results suggest that all ‘traditional’ news values appear to be construed in the shared news corpus and that there is variety in terms of the items that are widely shared. At the same time, the news values of Eliteness, Superlativeness, Unexpectedness, Negativity and Timeliness seem especially important in the corpus. The findings also indicate that ‘unexpected’ and ‘affective’ news items may be shared more, and that Negativity is a more important news value than Positivity.

scholarly journals Viral News on the Coronavirus: Does it Contribute to Health Communication?

Tripodos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (47) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Khan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
News Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Online Media ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Sources

From a century to a decade ago, the news media played a crucial role in providing the public with valuable in­formation, especially during a crisis. However, the advent of social media has brought about a change in ac­cess and distribution of the news and this may have resulted in less effec­tive health communication during this global coronavirus pandemic. These days, social media can have a great­er public reach and therefore, be the best tool to disseminate information. At the same time, there is the ques­tion of whether the important or trivial information is being shared. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of social media in providing the public with important information during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Using Great Britain as a case study, the research analysed the kind of content on the coronavirus that had gone vi­ral in online news sources in the Unit­ed Kingdom to determine whether the information that was being shared contributed or not to effective health communication. Keywords: news, viral news, online media, journalism, crisis communica­tion, coronavirus.

scholarly journals The development trends and features of online news websites in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-58
Author(s):  
Abdul Kabil Khan ◽  
Anna Shnaider
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Online News ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Development Trends ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Basic Features

This article refers to the brief history of the development of online media in Bangladesh starting from the beginnings of the Internet to the contemporary stage. Since 2006 Bangladeshi news organizations have been reshaping their strategy towards being a digital-only news outlet. News organizations are now using different features of mobile devices and social media to tell stories and engage with their target audiences. Today both the digital-only news outlets and mainstream media use QR codes, messengers, social media platforms, which enable them to reach a wider area of audiences. By using yet inexpensive digital tools journalists can easily create and distribute content for digital-only platforms. We consider digital-only platforms as new media, social media, and convergence media platforms. Social media platforms have provided the opportunity for traditional journalists to share news quickly, get feedback from the audience, and have two-way communication with the reader. Previous studies have looked at the genres of online journalism from a western perspective. Little has been done on the topic from the context of Bangladesh. In this article, we analyze the basic features of online news media that exist in contemporary Bangladesh and provide an account of the development trends. We outline the new genres, techniques, and use as a sample two most famous online news platforms: The Daily Star and bdnews24. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 different professionals from Journalism and mass media. This study is based on both primary and secondary sources of qualitative data to understand the new genres of online news media, challenges, and opportunities to work in the ever-changing media landscape.

scholarly journals Temporal and textual analysis of social media on collective discourses during the Zika virus pandemic

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Oo Lwin ◽  
Jiahui Lu ◽  
Anita Sheldenkar ◽  
Ysa Marie Cayabyab ◽  
Zi Han Yee Andrew ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Health Event ◽  
The Government

Abstract Background While existing studies have investigated the role of social media on health-related communication, little is known about the potential differences between different users groups on different social media platforms in responses to a health event. This study sets out to explore the online discourse of governmental authorities and the public in Singapore during the recent Zika pandemic in 2016. Methods Social media data were extracted from Facebook and Twitter using retroactive keyword sourcing of the word “Zika” to search for posts and a location filter of “Singapore”. Government posts, public posts, and replies to these original posts were included in the temporal and textual analysis. Results Overall, Facebook contained more government and individual content whereas Twitter had more content from news media accounts. Though the relative volume of Zika content from different data sources paralleled the peaks and troughs of Zika activities across time, discourses from different data sources differed in their temporal patterns, such that the public discourse died down faster than the government discourse after the outbreak was declared. In addition, the content of discourses differed among data sources. While government discourse included factual information of the disease, public discourse contained more elements of care such as worry about the risks to pregnant women, and elements of community such as well-wishes to each other. Conclusions Our study demonstrates the temporal and content differences between user groups and social media platforms in social media conversations during the Zika pandemic. It suggests that future research should examine the collective discourse of a health event by investigating social media discourses within varied sources rather than focusing on a singular social media platform and by one particular type of user.

scholarly journals Temporal and textual analysis of social media on collective discourses during the Zika virus pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Oo Lwin ◽  
Jiahui Lu ◽  
Anita Sheldenkar ◽  
Ysa Marie Cayabyab ◽  
Andrew Yee Zi Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Health Event ◽  
The Government

Abstract Background: While existing studies have investigated the role of social media on health-related communication, little is known about the potential differences between different users groups on different social media platforms in responses to a health event. This study sets out to explore the online discourse of governmental authorities and the public in Singapore during the recent Zika pandemic in 2016. Methods: Social media data were extracted from Facebook and Twitter using retroactive keyword sourcing of the word “Zika” to search for posts and a location filter of “Singapore”. Government posts, public posts, and replies to these original posts were included in the temporal and textual analysis. Results: Overall, Facebook contained more government and individual content whereas Twitter had more content from news media accounts. Though the relative volume of Zika content from different data sources paralleled the peaks and troughs of Zika activities across time, discourses from different data sources differed in their temporal patterns, such that the public discourse died down faster than the government discourse after the outbreak was declared. In addition, the content of discourses differed among data sources. While government discourse included factual information of the disease, public discourse contained more elements of care such as worry about the risks to pregnant women, and elements of community such as well-wishes to each other. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates the temporal and content differences between user groups and social media platforms in social media conversations during the Zika pandemic. It suggests that future research should examine the collective discourse of a health event by investigating social media discourses within varied sources rather than focusing on a singular social media platform and by one particular type of users.

scholarly journals Article 13 on social media and news media: disintermediation and reintermediation on the modern media landscape

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-157
Author(s):  
José Moreno ◽  
Rita Sepúlveda
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Online News ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Discourse ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Ease Of Access

The former Article 13 (now Article 17) of the European directive on copyright and the internet (Directive EC2019/790) has been under negotiations since 2016 and was finally approved in 2019. In Portugal, however, the issue was mostly absent from public scrutiny and debate until November 2018. In that month, the issue arose to a prominent level, both in news media and in social media, following a wave of alerts issued by various young youtubers, incentivized by YouTube management. In this paper, we engage in the discussion concerning disintermediation, studying the way in which such alerts spread both in news media and social media, and understanding the role played by the users of social media platforms in modelling the social relevance and the social discourse of the issue of copyright and the internet. To do so, we used digital methods, collecting and analysing data from Twitter, YouTube and from online news media, mapping Article 13 discussions and identifying key actors in each field, as well as the connections between them. The results show that the ease of access provided by platforms such as Twitter or YouTube converts some users to prominent influencers and that, in some cases, those influencers are able to shift and model the public discourse about relevant collective issues.

Kim Kardashian: the Leader of the Influencers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laila Fariha Zein ◽  
Adib Rifqi Setiawan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Armenian Genocide ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Global Commerce ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
International Issues ◽  
Global Influence

In today’s world, it is easier and easier to stay connected with people who are halfway across the world. Social media and a globalizing economy have created new methods of business, trade and socialization resulting in vast amounts of communication and effecting global commerce. Like her or hate her, Kimberly Noel Kardashian West as known as Kim Kardashian has capitalized on social media platforms and the globalizing economy. Kim is known for two things: famous for doing nothing and infamous for a sex tape. But Kim has not let those things define her. With over 105 million Instagram followers and 57 million Twitter followers, Kim has become a major global influence. Kim has travelled around the world, utilizing the success she has had on social media to teach make-up master classes with professional make-up artist, Mario Dedivanovic. She owns or has licensed several different businesses including: an emoji app, a personal app, a gaming app, a cosmetics line, and a fragrance line. Not to be forgotten, the Kardashian family show, ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ has been on the air for ten years with Kim at the forefront. Kim also has three books: ‘Kardashian Konfidential’, ‘Dollhouse’, and ‘Selfish’. With her rising social media following, Kim has used the platforms to show her support for politicians and causes, particularly, recognition of the Armenian genocide. Kim also recently spoke at the Forbes’ women’s summit. Following the summit, Kim tweeted out her support for a recent movement on Twitter, #freeCyntoiaBrown which advocated for a young woman who claimed to have shot and killed the man who held her captive as a teenage sex slave in self-defense. Kim had her own personal lawyers help out Cyntoia on her case. Kim has also moved beyond advocating for issues within the confines of the United States. As mentioned earlier, she is known for advocating for recognition of the Armenian genocide. In the last two years, her show has made it a point to address the Armenian situation as it was then and as it is now. Kim has been recognized as a global influencer by others across the wordl. We believe Kim has become the same as political leaders when it comes to influencing the public. Kim’s story reveals that the new reality creates a perfect opportunity for mass disturbances or for initiating mass support or mass disapproval. Although Kim is typically viewed for her significance to pop culture, Kim’s business and social media following have placed her deep into the mix of international commerce. As her businesses continue to grow and thrive, we may see more of her influence on international issues and an increase in the commerce from which her businesses benefit.

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