The Impact of Social Media on Newsroom Operations in the UAE - Paper Example

Introduction

Background of the Study

Social media can be defined as a class of online interchange channels dedicated to group-based information, content-sharing, connection, and association (Asur and Huberman, 2010). Some important social networking is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Pinterest, Google+, and Reddit. Innovation is enlarging the limits of the community circles; different media are additionally changing how individuals see and associate with each other. For example, individuals not just utilize Facebook to remain connected to family and friends; but also, to "like" specific pages, famous people, or TV shows. Remarkably, TV is not anymore, a restricted medium, however, an intelligent one. According to Social media stat reports by Lava Brands, there is a perfect development of online networking with a massive number of fans visiting Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn (Admin, 2018). The update shows advancement in the site daily visiting recording that an approximate of 5 million Facebook fans hit this worldwide social media stage with their pictures and profiles. Likewise, Twitter fans in UAE for instance, 2 million people utilize Twitter for message shopping, dating, and posting. Additionally, YouTube is another social media platform utilized recording an approximate of 22,753 daily guests (Admin, 2018).

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Source: Lava Brands, Dubai

The latest survey carried out in Dubai noted that in 2017, Facebook positioned at the top beating other social media applications such as; Twitter and Instagram (Admin, 2018). YouTube accomplished 73 percent guests who are intrigued to have new portable social media applications highlights to explore on this sought-after web-based social networking webpage. Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and other like platforms still battle to have more guests to beat Facebook.

Statement of the Problem

Online networking has changed the way individuals impart information to each other, making for an inexorably open condition in the Internet world since 2008. Usually, this new wonder would influence how local information and news is received and presented (Kumar, 2010), and what the effect will be to all shareholders on every social stage. This study aims to determine the influence of social and computerized media have on the way newsrooms air their news, and how the public receives this news concerning social stages, online networking newsrooms, and versatile innovation. The ordinary tasks of a newsroom will be investigated, from substance and fragments to staffing and crowd share.

Research Objectives

The objectives of this study are:

• To assess how working in the newsroom is affected by the Social Media.
• To determine how social media editors, frame the news and interact with the audience.
• To evaluate how social media is changing the news landscape concerning social networking platforms, social media newsrooms, and mobile technology.
• To assess how news stations, utilize different social media platforms to transmit content.
• To determine how mobile technology has worked to a newsroom's advantage and how has it affected revenue and viewership.

Research Questions

The following are research questions derived from the objectives:

• How are the newsroom operations affected by Social Media?
• How do social media editors frame the news and interact with the audience?
• How is social media changing the news landscape regarding social networking platforms, social media newsrooms, and mobile technology?
• How are the news stations utilizing different social media platforms to transmit content?
• How is mobile technology working to a newsroom's advantage and how has it affected revenue and viewership?
• What adjustments are the newsrooms making to accommodate the use of social media?

The Significance of the Study

As the news business grasps the different types of online networking to enable them to stay aggressive in their marketing strategy and news assembling, some scholars have asserted that these media are significantly starting to affect how journalists work (Dickinson, 2011).This paper will investigate the advancing practices of reporters in newsrooms and analyzes the degree and nature of online networking impact in their work. The significance of the study is that it will add to the body of research that has already been conducted by other scholars in the past. It will cover areas that previous scholars have not included with the aim of increasing the knowledge that exists about the study. It will be conducted in the UAE.

Theoretical Framework

This thesis builds on the new media theory theoretical framework which is based on the assumption that social media has had an effect on the landscape media as well as a demand for the traditional media. Media has gone through a change over the years due to the demands of customers who want high-quality work. The revolution in the media industry has led to the development of the internet as one of the main channels of delivering the news. The new media theory is concerned about the shift from conventional methods of delivering news to creative ways like using the different forms of electronic media, including social media. This justifies the inclusion of social media platforms as a regular and reliable method of interacting with customers. Other scholars that have adopted the new media theory include Compton & Benedetti (2010) and Mierzejewska (2011) who argued that in the management of media, innovative and creative ideas of reaching the client must be adopted so that the audience can feel part of the news. The revolution in the media industry is more reliable of models that allow the recipients of information demanding for channels in which to communicate with newsrooms and Twitter is one if the main channels (Moon & Hadley, 2014).

A justification for choosing the new media theory as the theoretical framework is that it is easy to prove as true in the print media operations since newsrooms are constantly embracing new technology with the aim of improving service delivery. There is also increased accessibility from the potential clients who rely on newsrooms as the only source of information from the local and international scene. In the past, there have been other scholars who have used the new media theory as the main theoretical framework in their study and have provided reliable results that have contributed to the literature available about the study they conducted. For instance, Brake (2014) used the new media theory in their study and concluded that adoption of social media had brought changes in the newsroom. Indications of the future reveal that social media will soon become the only reliable channel for distributing information from various sources. It will replace traditional media methods like print media since most customers have abandoned the purchase of hard copies that provide news and have incorporated the concept of relying upon and trusting social media information, even though some of the information is not from reliable sources.

Literature Review

The Impact of New Technology on the News Production Process

The change realized by the innovation in the TV newsroom has turned into a key part of the advancement in the broadcast industry. Notably, since the newsrooms embraced the newly automated frameworks, it has exceptionally changed the way workers present and strategizes news creation in their news production process (Paterson and Domingo, 2008). Singer (2011) contend that the advancement of innovation specifically the digital news bundle into a more contemporary online packaging has achieved emotional changes in the field of news coverage. In this specific circumstance, Usher (2016) presumes that subspecialty and abilities change has risen out of the mix of an assortment of components including design, photography, information representation, designs, maps, calculation and delineation of present-day news-casting. Eminently, these parts of news-casting converge in an assortment of ways and strategies, which bolster the new state of intuitive news-casting in the digital age.

Innovation changes and improvement additionally have prompted advancement of the cutting-edge type of online news coverage which was molded, made, altered, and dispersed by the web. The term online reporting alludes to the news content accessible and available through the internet (Brake, 2014). He contends that the network makes it conceivable to transfer data anyplace to anybody with access to a cell phone, PC or some other propelled innovation. These progressions have significantly affected how journalist work in numerous ways, especially in managing their audience. In this unique situation, Domingo and Paterson (2011) contended that the innovation of online news coverage makes a stamped takeoff from the mass focusing on innovation to an individualized innovation with the capability of contacting a more significant group of an audience without being coldhearted to the characteristics of the individual new purchasers.

Innovations in Television Journalism

During the most recent couple of years, with the advancements and innovative improvement of TV, journalists practice universe has changed (Cushions, 2011). The presentation of new advances and the preparing of news in numerous stages has driven the journalists to the requirement for more innovative, media and topical flexibility. These workers have to ace a few means and dialects and to have correspondence and expressive aptitudes to act in informal organizations and substance digitalization conditions (Cushions, 2011). Along these lines, they are expected to perform exercises, learn new errands and capacities that were once in the past presented by other experts, in a situation of wilderness annihilation between the elements of reporter, host, producer, coordinator, editor, chief, supervisor, and the writer.

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