In this digital age, it’s almost impossible for us to get away from any form of technology, particularly as it is becoming smarter and more advanced every day. Technology offers so much convenience and it is changing the way we behave in the online world in several different ways.
For example, digital technology has significantly altered the way we create and consume information and news. Not so long ago, we would wake up in the morning, get out of bed and make a cup of tea or coffee, before reading the newspaper that had been delivered to us. However, nowadays, the first thing most of us do after we wake up is catch up on the most recent news by looking at social media platforms on our mobile devices.
But this isn’t the only way that technology has changed journalism and news consumption. Here are some other interesting ways in which technology has, and is, changing the world of journalism and news consumption:
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Most of Us Access News Stories Through Social Media
As we mentioned above, the world has changed a great deal since the introduction of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. These platforms give us easy access to a whole range of information, including access to breaking news stories. Thanks to this, instead of reading news stories in a newspaper, many of us now choose to read these stores on social media platforms.
In fact, research has shown that social media is used every week by more than 50% of people to find, share and discuss news content. Not only that, but this research also showed that among audiences aged 18-24, social media was now their preferred news source.
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Chat Apps Are the Way Forward
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of people using services like WeChat and WhatsApp. News organizations have noticed this increase and, as a result, they have started experimenting with using these platforms. Thanks to this, we’re likely to see a lot more news stories and information on these platforms in the future.
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Finding New Ways to Connect with Audiences
The way in which journalists and publishers connect with their audiences has changed a great deal recently. They are now having to think of new and innovative ways to keep customers interested in their content.
Unfortunately, news platforms and journalists often find it hard to think of new ways to connect with audiences. Thankfully, there are now several courses that teach students how to do this. One example is the Online Master of Arts in Digital Journalism. This course teaches students how to develop original and interesting stories for digital media platforms. Not only that, but this program from St. Bonaventure University online goes beyond traditional journalism skills, such as writing, reporting, and editing as it teaches students how to connect with audiences on a wide range of platforms by incorporating photography, video, design, and audio.
Although it is hard to find new ways to connect with audiences, many journalists and publishers have successfully done so in the past. Some ways they have done this include using chatbots, quizzes, and more informal ways to deliver current affairs and news to their customers. This includes interactive services like the Washington Post Kik bot and TrumpChat, which is a bot that mimics Donald Trump’s Twitter voice. These services are not only fun and conversational, but they also offer a way to engage customers in new and innovative ways.
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We Can Now See the Full Picture
If you’re a Facebook or YouTube user, there’s a high possibility that you’ve noticed that you can now view 360-degree images on these platforms. Both of these platforms introduced this type of technology last year. The introduction of these more immersive visual forms gives us a better perspective on media content and news stories. And they are only going to become more prevalent in the next few years.
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Robots Have Become Reporters
In 2015, the Associated Press announced that it is now able to automatically generate over 3,000 stories about U.S. corporate earnings each quarter. Although robot or automated journalism doesn’t work for everything, it is now being used daily by news companies. The good news for newsreaders who are worried that this type of reporting may have an impact on the quality of the articles being produced is that the majority of people are unable to tell whether a news article has been produced by a robot or a human being.
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Virtual Reality is Changing News Consumption
Although it’s still early days for virtual reality, this is another platform that could be used in the future. Many content creators are already experimenting with this type of technology, and when it is a reality, it will allow us to get a better perspective on news stories, one which we cannot get from videos and 2D photos.
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Changing Our Morning Routines
As we mentioned above, we no longer start our day by reading a newspaper. In fact, this is now considered an antiquated concept, with just 6% of people in the U.S. still choosing to do this. Instead, most of us prefer to check news websites, apps, and social media when we wake up. This is because we can quickly and easily find out all of the information we need from these sources.
Technology has changed journalism and news consumption considerably. Although most information is still written, it’s not written on paper anymore. Most of us now use our smartphones to keep updated with the latest hard news and breaking news stories. This is because it’s much easier and faster to receive all of this information in this way. And this isn’t the only way technology has changed journalism and news consumption; from robots becoming reporters, to chatbots creating new conversation tools, there are lots of examples of how technology has changed journalism.
In the future, we expect to see technology continue to change journalism. In fact, several tech trends could have an impact on journalism and news consumption, including the introduction of more powerful mobile devices, and faster mobile networks. The impact of these will only increase as the technologies and the behaviors linked with them become more mainstream. This means that the digital news revolution has only just started.