Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Facebook and Journalism

More and more I see actual new articles on my Facebook news feed instead of status updates or photo tags. This Tuesday, Facebook launched a Journalists on Facebook community page as part of their growing effort to combine the social media site with journalism. In a note Justin Osofsky, FB's Director of Media Partnerships, wrote that they hope the page will become, "an ongoing resource for the growing number of reporters using Facebook to find sources, interact with readers, and advance stories." The note also cites that the average media organization has seen a 300% increase in referral traffic. Do you think journalists will flock to Facebook to find stories, sources and readers? Will PR reps be pitching to journalists through this community?

2 comments:

Kate F said...

I think the answer to your question is - why not? It can't hurt journalists and PR reps to use FB to support their work. I don't think it will become their single focus but it is only natural that as people incorporate more social media into their social lives, it will carry over into professional lives. I think the biggest question is how to determine authenticity - whether with determining the sources or with the rep pitching the ad.

Oksana Kirichenko said...

I agree with Kate. Also, PR reps already use social media (Facebook, Twitter) to pitch stories or even send news releases. However, I think journalists cannot always rely on social media to get truthful information.