24/7 Availability

Source: http://www.people-press.org/
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We’ve examined how technology has changed how society receives information and how involved they become in the information dissemination process.  Because so much information is available today through social media, communicators must gather this information and examine it to determine how they can provide more in-depth content for their audience.  In addition to requiring more in-depth content, society now demands that information be available whenever they want it.

Years ago, if a non-breaking news story was available at 10 a.m., audiences had to wait until the noon or 5 o’clock news to learn about it.  Today’s technology has accelerated how news is disseminated, enabling the same non-breaking news story to be available immediately through social media or other online sources.  “News is happening now.  The lifespan of a news cycle is shrinking.  That means that the comment or tweet or response video needs to be conceived, created and released immediately” (Reid, 2012, para. 9).  Mass media professionals need to be aware of how audiences want to obtain their news and they need to be there for them when they are looking for the news.  In 2010, “more Americans said they went online to get their news than said they read a newspaper ‘yesterday’” (Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2011, para. 15).  The trend for obtaining information online is continuing and mass media needs to support that trend. 

Source: http://www.people-press.org/
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“Journalists are forced to accelerate the traditional journalistic process because people now want real time information.  People want the information as soon as the journalist or the media outlet receives it” (Alejandro, 2010, pg. 9).  For example, look at how audiences followed news about the Boston Marathon bombing.  “About half (49%) say they kept up with news and information online or on a mobile device, and…(26%) tracked the story on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter” (Pew Research Center, 2013, para. 6).  Online sources continue to be a place that audiences turn to for their news and they expect the news to be available on those sources just as quickly as more traditional sources would have the news.  To audiences, it does not matter if the information is not yet complete, as long as the media makes that statement.  What matters to audiences is that their sources of news remains current and keeps them up to date on what is happening.

Next up:  How technology has created an impatient culture.

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References: 

Alejandro, J.  (2010).  Journalism in the age of social media.  University of Oxford.  Retrieved from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Journalism%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Social%20Media.pdf.

Pew Research Center.  (2013, April 23).  Most expect ’occasional acts of terrorism’ in the future.  Retrieved from http://www.people-press.org/2013/04/23/most-expect-occasional-acts-of-terrorism-in-the-future/.

Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.  (2011).  Online: By the numbers.  Retrieved from http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2011/online-essay/data-page-7/.

Reid, B.  (2012, May 4).  The 10 skills modern communicators have (or need to get).  WCG.  Retrieved from http://blog.wcgworld.com/2012/05/the-10-skills-modern-communicators-have-or-need-to-get.