Social Media is causing an amazing shift
While civilizations around the world have had their ways to spread news & announcements related to various events, it wasn’t until the spread of the printing press in the 15th century, that a more organized & uniform form of announcement came into being.
The Rise of Print, Audio, Video and Social Media
By the 17th century, printing press were common in all major European countries, and newspapers were being published day-in, day-out. Soon enough, newspapers became the standard through which people could be made aware of events across a specific region. The 20th century gave birth to several inventions including TV & Radio, and by 1950, all three mediums, print, audio and video were in circulation.
Little did people know that revolution was just a couple decades away. While the US military had been experimenting with the internet since the 60s, by the 90s internet had started its spread in major US & European cities. The dot com bubble, which lasted from 1995-2001 rapidly spread internet within several developing nations, and gave birth to a plethora of e-services, one of which was news & broadcasting.
Social Media companies like Yahoo, Google & Facebook came into being, with each one trying to win the greatest chunk of the market by offering cutting edge services. Soon other companies joined in like Twitter, Reddit, Quora and so on, and while conventional newspaper companies maintained their offline presence, it became apparent to them that having an online presence is essential for survival.
The millennials in particular were eager to let go of the ways of the past, and bring in technology into their lives, for good. This was one of the main reasons as to why there has been such a sharp decline of newspapers. It was found that in 2001, the US newspaper industry had shed 1/5th of its workforce. While TV was able to hold out for much longer, and still is, it became apparent with the rise of censorships, that internet was the way to go.
“it would put the conventional news under even more pressure then it already is today”
The series of revolts that followed in the Middle East, called the Arab Spring showed the world the true power of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Countries like Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Syria, where internet had penetrated deeply were able to rise up through a series of Tweets, Posts and Videos. Social media gave power to the people and formed a connection between them, one that would bring entire regimes down and spring the international community into action.
Today, much of the younger generation has made internet-based-news a part of its life, and brought sources like the newspaper & TV to the bottom of its priorities. Companies like Google & Facebook are making renewed efforts to provide cheap internet to underdeveloped countries so that the remaining 5 billion people of the 8 billion people across the world would be connected to one another. This would make a worldwide shift in Social Media news a fact, and it would put the conventional news under even more pressure then it already is today.
