Breaking News: Social Media Takes Over

784,136 people like Kony 2012

#RIP Steve Jobs

Royal Wedding: William and Kate’s First Kiss: 2,900,129 views

We live in an age where social media is so deeply embedded in our daily lives, where – so long as we have service – our portable phones keep us connected with news and anyone else who happens to be connected.  

Since the advent of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace (to name a few), users have evolved from using web portals as a method of keeping in touch with friends to a platform of social and intellectual debate.

News headlines, social issues and opinions flood web pages. From personal experience, I have noticed that many university students inform themselves of world issues via posts from their friends on networking sites. Social media networks expedite the spread of statements or assertions made on those networks, regardless of the truth or falsity of those statements/assertions.

A recent example of where poignant causes have reached out to the public via social media is the ‘Kony 2012’ video, whose word spread like lighting

via networks such as Twitter and Facebook. I myself found out about Steve Jobs’ passing via a friend’s Facebook status update, honoring the creative

guru. The video sharing website YouTube which broadcasts entertainment and educational videos gets over 4 billion views per day.

News spread via social media successfully reaches out to a vast number of people in a relatively short time, especially for adults under the age of 30.

With the younger generation becoming more and more dependant on online posts about world events, the question of print’s lifetime is questionable  - is the traditional obtainment of news no longer required or going out of fashion?