Social media is one of the fastest growing internet phenomenons over the last few years and with such sites as Facebook and YouTube being so popular the reasons why are quite simple. Particularly among teenagers and students, these websites dominate their lives and provide them with hours of enjoyment in which they sit down all day and delve deeper into the vast content these sites share.
Social media allows everyone to connect.
The thing with these social media sites are that they often interlink with one another. Often people post videos on Facebook which then are links from sites such as YouTube, Flikr or other sources such as news sites. Social media can be described as a means by which people can communicate, share and exchange content between one another. However, this doesn’t just have to be between peers and colleagues. Businesses see social media as an opportunity to engage with and connect with their customers in order to build greater relationships and gain knowledge about one another.
Brands create Facebook and MySpace pages in order to allow for their customers to post comments about what they like and what they don’t. This is a great market research tool as the cost is either next to nothing, or indeed nothing. It is also non invasive and allows the customer to decide when and how much feedback to give unlike other market research methods such paper questionnaires or telephone calls.
So not only do social media sites allow for friends to stay in contact with each other and share media content, but it is also a valuable source for businesses to communicate and gain deeper understanding about their customer base. Very recently, Facebook itself has been valued at having an IPO of between $28 and $35, meaning the company itself is potentially worth around $90bn; and so the site itself is an extremely profitable business in its own right even without a fee levelled at the user.
Facebook and Twitter helped to free a country.
On a more serious note, social media sites have been used in ways that they were never originally designed for, for example during the Egyptian uprising where Facebook and Twitter were utilised by the people to arrange themselves and unite to topple the despotic regime they despised. It has even been said that “If you want to liberate a country, give them the internet.” which is a reference to the start of the Arab Spring and the uprising of the Egyptian people.
There are various types of travel news and therefore there are multiple ways of communicating these. The principle factor to consider is the difference in the size and scale of the travel news. For example flight travel news is obviously going to affect more people on a global scale than a broken down vehicle on a minor road through towns and cities. Examples such as flights and rail travel will be publicised online, on TV and will be sourced by multiple radio news stations. As this news affects more people and affects people in a larger way, word spreads quicker and is discussed far more. In extreme cases, even traffic jams can become international news!
Let's hope this makes it to the news before you get stuck in it!
However, smaller local travel news will mostly only be sourced on local radio stations and perhaps the local evening news if it going to cause a problem for longer than was expected. Having said that, if there is some event where it really has caused a bigger problem for people, then this can often make national news. This may not necessarily act as a warning to people who may have been intending to travel there, but just to highlight the dangers that can occur around the country and warn people that it could happen in their area if they aren’t driving safely, for example.
With the advent of the internet, and the ease of accessing it even while away from home, people do not even have to rely on radio or television for their travel news. All major news networks have travel news sections, as do prominent motoring organisations, allowing you to have an up to date and concise knowledge of any traffic, broken down vehicles, faulty traffic lights or any other road hazard that may present itself. In addition to this, the same is available for any other method of travel, be it train, plane or ferry!
Delays are long and painful in airports.
With local travel news the mood and way of informing people is often less formal. People almost try and make jokes about hold ups as they know it isn’t really affecting anyone in a life changing way. Whereas with national and international travel news, it can affect people in a much more serious way, prompting the manner in which this is communicated to be much more serious.
Millions people around the world access news from a variety of different sources on a daily basis. The internet is an extremely popular way to access new stories and there a variety of different websites where people can review news stories as they unfold. Not only are there millions of different website with news articles, but along with the introduction of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube these news stories are spreading faster and faster.
No matter where it happens, we can know about it.
Obviously the larger news stories and potential moment defining events will be spread through hearsay, but the internet has allowed for the smaller less important news stories to reach everyone’s eyes and ears, particularly the humorous stories. Being distracted at work can often be very irritating, but once in a while it is great to receive an email about some small scale event that has happened across the globe that has raised eyebrows.
It is often these smaller news events that give us hours of talking points and anecdotes to share amongst ourselves. With the impact of viral communication, if these stories are talked about enough, they become news items on more widely visible sources, such as the main news channels or TV shows. A couple of examples of these are the woman who dumped the cat in the wheely bin, or the young man from America who was interviewed regarding a break in at his family’s house in Lincoln Park.
Newspapers are still an important method of getting up to date with news from around the world, as many people either do not have access to the internet or are unaware of the vast treasure trove of information, news and opinions that are flooding into the internet every single second. Understandably, newspapers mostly focus on events closer to home, but there will always be some news from across the world; especially if it affects our country or our interests.
Traditional newspapers are still very important.
Now-a-days it doesn’t to matter whether there is big news or small news, but each day people will be spreading news and stories that they have heard or seen from all areas of the world. This makes our lives that little bit more interesting, helps us understand that all cultures and countries also have those peculiar characters and allow us to laugh at (or with!) them and learn from their mistakes.
