Social media is the new media channel. It is officially considered the fifth power. Does the fifth power replace the fourth-traditional media, and how do concepts like news and journalism change in the era of the internet and innovation. Do communication channels and modern information platforms speed things up and provide endless possibilities or do they hide risks, including the spread of false information?
Nowadays communication processes and the outlook of the media are drastically changed by technological developments, the occurrence of social media and a huge data base. Access to information is quick, mobile and interactive. Before news was distributed one way-from the news agencies to the readers, listeners and viewers, today communication is multilateral and dynamic. The citizens are not just passive users of a given information, they often participate actively in the distribution, interpretation and even creation of content.
Thanks to platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc..
The possibility of discussing a given topic in real time is ever so prevalent. Sometimes even before a news team manages to reach the place of event (protests, floods, civil wars ...) people are already managing to reflect on the event with informational importance.
We live in a time when the border line between users and content creators is blurred. The content created by the users is usually in the form of amateur photos, comments or videos (usually of bad quality), however, it could involve deeper analysis. The lack of censorship (editorial policy) and personal motivation in a given field sometimes lead to examples of citizen journalism which is of far worse quality than the work of professionals.
More and more people with expertise knowledge in many different fields have specialized blogs both in our country and the world and the examples of quality writing that is verified and intriguing are increasing. Traditional media channels even have to look for collaboration form the citizens for the coverage of certain events.
It has to be noted that in times of crisis, there are people who would, without intending to, share false information in their attempts to help and inform others quickly.
There are websites and platforms which are created to refute false information due to the wave of disinformation.
Such websites and platforms for sharing experience exist worldwide and many of them combine the expertise of journalists and editorial teams with that of experts in citizen journalism.
The online investigation process of verification of information requires attention to detail and strong methodology, but mastering this is not impossible. To help come some easy to master and very useful online tools.
In social media we often encounter false images or video materials or false information provided to truthful pictures from other places and events.
There is a series of questions to be answered in order to determine the authorship and authenticity of the published information: who the author is, who published the picture/video, when and where was the picture/video made?
The more information we find regarding these questions and the more it fits the small details, the higher the credibility and reliability of the material.
Such checks are not aimed at undermining the prestige of user content. On the contrary-because of the increasing importance of citizen journalism it is vital that both journalists and readers build a reliable and verified approach towards sifting out quality content from the unscrupulous attempts to manipulate through propaganda.
Some of the advantages of social media, apart from the fact that it serves as a source of information, are indisputable: the posts in different platforms can help victims or people in need and the calls for humanitarian aid and donations for them show the uniting power of social media in times of tragedies and crisis.
For sure the so called ‘fifth power’ changes the way in which the media business works.
The media content is diversified not only as an interface and different channels and platforms for communication but also in terms of contribution to the audience-news, generated by the users. This is how traditional media practices are taking advantage of the fifth power and the need of a reliable and unbiased source of verified information guarantees that the printed as well as electronic media will be needed in the future. In the end of the day, the job of a journalist is to contribute to issues by analysing them in depth and this goes beyond the short videos and titles circulating in social media.
