“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” ~W. Edwards Deming
In 2006, “backpacking journalism” was unconventional. Using personal cameras and computers to edit and send news was practically unheard of. Now, tweeting, blogging, taking pictures and editing pictures yourself is being done by just about ANYONE and it is certainly a necessity to survive in the world of promotions and media relations. What has this done to our gatekeepers since the internet has allowed for a rise in power of opinions from our neighbors, pizza man and everyone else?
The gatekeepers for our news are no longer solely the newspaper and television. Some of the most popular news sources are mommy bloggers or highly informed individuals who post regularly on twitter or their personal. Kris Battle writes, in his post about the impossible task of controlling the message, that this “fairly contained group” of news reporters and producers are the gatekeepers of the “old days” (meaning just a few years ago.) He says that these people still matter, but it’s not enough anymore because people are going to talk about your organization, create waves of chatter online and buzz on blogs and twitter no matter what you do.
Companies are being forced to ride the “new media trend” wave or they’re going to be washed away.
When students or consumers can disseminate a message online with extreme magnitude, this new social media trend means on thing: it’s getting harder to control a company’s message.
As our book mentions, this rise of internet use has many positive implications for nonprofits since online is much more inexpensive than print. Blogs are incredibly popular quickly due to their ability to aggregate information from many sources, the first-person style of blog posts often allow bloggers to better explain an issue with a personal touch and blogs are a two-way street with options to comment.
I can’t help but think, though, about the negative impact social media could have in the future for nonprofits. Newspapers are no longer “paper” so these outlets are starting to put more emphasis on their internet version of the news. New York Times is even winding down their production of print and many newspapers, like our local Greenville News, now charge to have access to online articles since their profit from print is drastically declining.I’ve heard several businessmen state that they won’t pay for access to online articles when so much of the other internet material is free. If Twitter will be the primary source of news for most people, then won’t users follow only the most important groups and overlook nonprofits? Could Twitter, too, become available with price soon? My point is, with the decline in paper circulation, there’s going to be a shift in how money is made for these “media-makers” and I wander if the “free” internet tools nonprofits use today will eventually be replaced by a monopoly of pricey online gadgets.
*Information based on:
Bonk, K., Tynes, E., Griggs, H. & Sparks, P. (2008). Strategic Communications for Nonprofits: A Step-by-Step Guide to Working with the Media (2nd Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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