Social Media Brings the News

How did we keep up with the news in the world before social media?  Oh yeah we read the newspaper and watched the news on television.  These days more and more people seem to be keeping up with headline stories through the Internet and even social media.

In my small hometown of about 700, we had a young 24 year old soldier we all knew well, get killed in Afghanistan two weeks ago.  Locally this was covered by the newspapers and television stations.  But through our tight-nit community, messages were sent to thousands over Facebook to update people on the services and to honor Sgt. Nathan Kennedy as a Hero and friend.  It was amazing the amount of support that was shown via Facebook.  I’m sure much of the local media had a lot to do with letting those in the community and surrounding area know the updates on ceremonies and the dates of the funeral.  But I have to believe that the communication on Facebook also was responsible for the huge funeral procession of over 4,000 that came to show their respect and admiration for Nathan and his family.  (

A small portion (prior to the funeral service) even made it to YouTube.

People are logged on to social media sites daily and share a lot of information; giving every post such a great reach to thousands instantly.  It’s becoming a popular way to learn avout, and keep updated on current news such as the oil spill in the Gulf.  As reported on Mashable by author Geoff Livingston ““As the ongoing oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico continues, several organization have created dynamic uses of social media to monitor the situation.  These efforts range from a deploying combination of balloons, cameras and maps to chronicle the progress of the oil spill to old fashioned information dissemination of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.”

This post can be viewed at: http://mashable.com/2010/05/15/social-media-oil-spill/

There are numerous YouTube videos about the oil spill, here is just one.

 Greenpeace USA has a blog about is, http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/gulf-oil-spill

I know we’ve all been anticipating the Internet to take over the newspaper in the future, but is social media becoming so powerful that the newspaper will see its demise even sooner?  After all, news travels to fast on these social sites, and newspapers take a day to print.  By the time the next day’s news hit the front porch with breaking news and updates, people are already know about it.

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