Grad school post: Keeping things timely

There's no doubt that in order to survive, publications must have a presence on social media. Connecting with readers has always been important, but in contemporary society, with traditional newspapers hanging on, it's vital.There are two huge issues which face publications. The first is that people who search news, are looking for interest first, fact second. It's funny that everyone knows social media is rank with nonsense, yet that's still where we find a lot of our news. It's easy to find stories which match our world-views, which sometimes aren't even news at all. Shock sells, and Facebook posts which start, "You won't believe..." dare readers to click.A second problem with social media use is staying up with the times. The speed at which things change is a task as well. Most articles written to prepare journalists to use Facebook correctly are now obsolete. The Journalist's Guide to Facebook written by Leah Betancourt is six years old, which is a generation ago by Internet standards. The principles still exist, even if the specifics have changed. There is no doubt that there have to be people on staff ready to update the usage of social media. There is no way a publication can resist social media growth based on strict adherence to archaic methods of news reporting.