How Social Media Is Taking Over the News Industry

More than ever, people are using Twitter, Facebook and other social media sources to learn about what’s happening in the world as traditional news outlets become increasingly less relevant to the digital generation.

American forces’ raid on Osama Bin Laden, Whitney Houston‘s death, the Hudson River plane landing — these are just a few of many major news stories ordinary citizens broke on Twitter first. Professional journalists, meanwhile, use Twitter all the time to break news quickly before writing up full articles.

And the business side is going digital too. Online news now generates more revenue than print newspapers.

But the trend toward Internet and social media-based news — and the accompanying rush to be first to report a story — also comes with pitfalls. Some 50% of news consumers have received “breaking news” via social media, only to find out later it was erroneously reported. Read More