The Power of Social Media

Contrary to what I expected he would say, WLBT anchor, Brandon Artiles, thinks that hot topic news stories such as the Trayvon Martin case and Rush Limbaugh’s verbal slamming of Sandra Fluke would have circulated just as wildly and just as rapidly with or without social media.  He believes that the issues do not owe their pervasive natures to social media in general.

“I don’t think you can deny the effect of social media.  [sic] I think it’s not so much social media starts (these types of issues and stories) but I do think it perpetuates them,” says Artiles.

The real benefit of social media, he said, is that it gives people who are not working in the media an opportunity to weigh in or sound off on these issues.  With the convergence of media, media users are now also media producers.  And it is inconvenient in that the grey area is significantly widened in what is considered reliable, factual information. 

Artiles says that a good example of the power of social media can be seen in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“I think that’s where the communication began,” he said, “on where these folks wanted to stage their protest, on where they wanted to meet.  That seemed to be a situation where social media did play a very heavy role, and how that type of movement was able to get off the ground.

Indeed, social media is accessible to virtually anyone, regardless of economic, social, or educational background.  And even as it essentially eliminates both cultural and geographic boundaries, the reliability of information one receives from those sources is suspect.

As a newsman, Artiles still believes in the power of the news media to disseminate reliable information, and thinks hot topic issues exist independently of social media.

“I think we’re still talking about those (issues) without the advent of social media,” he said.

As far as the power of social media, Artiles thinks that for now it has not affected bureaucratic policy, but that it will in the future.

“I think the Internet is a perpetually growing machine.  I think it is going to usurp what we understand as the media today,” he said.  Meaning, I believe, that if the mainstream traditional media we know today is holding the reins of power – which it assuredly does – then the Internet will, if it has not already, incorporate all media into one, colossal dynamic.

Watch the full interview here