Social media not going away

Social media, with the likes of which Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a gang of others too numerous to mention, populate our vernacular. They have become as large a part of society as the telephone was in its inception and the written letter before it.

Communication is the lifeblood of any community — physical or virtual — and the advancement of technology over the years has been the perfect vehicle to bring people together.

Imagine having to wait weeks to see a photo of your new granddaughter because she was born three provinces away, and the only way to transmit her likeness would be to send a photo through Canada Post.

What about trolling through phone and address books to the find ways to invite your friends to the event planned for the weekend? 

There hasn’t been a time in our history when we can not only access anyone, anywhere but also pinpoint his or her location with an online map, including a visual of their terrain, weather conditions and air temperature. Chances are, we can access video of that very location somewhere at sometime.

The instant appeal of reading someone’s words has also vastly changed the way we receive information not directly related to our daily lives. If someone wants to know the latest on Sidney Crosby’s injuries, there’s no longer a need to wait until the next TV sports cast. If there’s a question about the latest flap at the House of Commons, there’s a plethora of sites devoted to getting the information.

So as social media has changed the way people communicate, it has also changed the modus operandi for those in the business of communication. In this regard, while Facebook and Twitter can ascend a person beyond the reach of a skyless pedestal, it can as easily throw someone under the bus in seconds.

This is where media’s role falls into the realm of what’s real and what’s assumed.

Traditional media — as newspapers, television and radio have been recently pegged — must critically decipher and contextualize information that gives readers and listeners a sense of what’s assumed and what’s real, of the facts versus the opinion.

We can’t imagine a story written using Facebook comments alone, nor can we fall into a lazy trap of relying only on what’s online. It’s the same reason we insist conversation is key in gathering thoughts and information, and that prepared emails and Facebook banter should be considered tools to get the story rather than the story itself.

Here at The Western Star, we’re continually finding ways to better do our jobs through technology and social media. We’ve become a news source rather than just a newspaper, and we’re experimenting all the time. We also have a lot to learn.

Social media has changed us as it has changed your lives. And the beauty of is that we’re learning together because, say what you will, it’s not going away.