Dashin' through the table

           Social media has truly revolutionized today’s internet landscape. It is now all about the users and their content.

           Internet communications has generally transformed through the introduction of social networking sites. Social media has improved the way people communicate with each other. From e-mails, to chat rooms, social media made them all somewhat irrelevant. Real time uploading of content is what social media offers to its users. People usually use their social networking profiles to upload and share their personal content to the world.

The Online Newsstand

Not only do people use social media for personal and communication purposes, they also use it for gathering news and information. People view and share articles or documents that usually appeal to their emotions. Usual reasons why people “like”, “re-tweet”, or “share” what they see in social networking sites includes funny posts, unbelievable posts, “touching” or emotional posts, embarrassing moments and other. For more information, check this link out.

         As for news, social media has changed its landscape the same way it has shaken up the rest of the internet. News can now be broken as fast as lightning through Twitter and Facebook. News and information can also now be passed on from people to people in mere seconds. However, users now don’t usually go directly to a particular news site, they go straight to an article or content which appealed to them; thanks to social media. In short, users now read or view articles which they have seen on their feeds.

The Social Media Newsroom     

In response, news websites now, particularly websites of newspapers, have reformatted their pages according to what they think appeals to the users. Among local news organizations, Philstar.com appears to have a head start. Philstar.com, adapting to the demands produced by social media, created its Social Media Newsroom (SMN).

         While currently not its own section in the news agency’s website, SMN forms part of Philstar.com’s thrust to the future.  Now standing for at least three years, SMN stands as a symbol of synergy among content marketing, advertising and social media.

           SMN’s strategy for content and information dissemination, plus marketing, is plainly simple: “feed it to the readers.” Formerly under the headlines section, SMN now aggregates stories that broke out online. It also highlights stories that found themselves taking another character because it was told through the internet. Furthermore, it takes into account stories which are caused, or usually caused, by social media itself. Primarily generated from online discussions and comments, SMN’s writers and contributors produce stories around the users and readers’ reactions."For the first time, we're writing about people [in general]. You make their comments a part of the news article. Somehow, it gives a new character to the man on the street," said Camille Diola, SMN’s current head.

Old Dog, New Tricks

While maintaining their lead among other local news websites, SMN’s writers and contributors still keep to their journalistic values religiously. The issue between “bloggers vs. journalists” does not concern them. To them, “good reporting is good reporting.”

Most of the time, their methods of news gathering include: online gathering, and aggregation. Computer-assisted/generated reporting is one of their usual companion while doing their articles. Third-party tools, like Adobe Photoshop among others, are also quite handy for SMN’s writers and contributors. “Content is king,” Diola said.

While they acknowledge that there are still difficulties between the use of online journalism and traditional journalism, Diola added, “There shouldn't be a difference. [However] you cannot print a tweet as it is.”

Currents, and Then Some

Essentially, SMN also acts as a collection of Twitter accounts of Philstar and Philstar.com’s writers, columnists and contributors. This was done to easily direct the readers to what they want and to access from the writer or columnist of their choice. In a sense, gatekeeping in SMN is not done by editors but the writers themselves.

As highlighted by SMN, Philstar.com’s uses social media as a thrust to the future. "It's not just a role. It's an integral part of it. We don't differentiate it," Diola said when asked about the role of social media on their business model. “We breathe it, from the way we gather news to how we write news,” Diola added.

     Currently, there also plans for SMN future expansion. Camille said that tomorrow’s SMN will have packaged content for microsites. SMN will also be more interactive and will have more room for user-generated content.