Social media and its effect on the news cycle
By Aubrey Gelpieryn
What came first: the media coverage or the trending topic? In the news today, it’s getting harder to determine the answer.
“One can’t exist without the other,” said Jeremiah Patterson, a Digital Manager at the Online News Association and Professor in the American University School of Communication.
This is because trending topics are news topics that spoke to people, according to Patterson. The reason they’re popular and trending is because people want to know more.
However, Patterson is skeptical about reporters always covering trending topics on social media, especially in regards to President Donald Trump’s tweets.
“I’ve never seen the news cover every little thing so much,” said Patterson. “That’s a huge example of social media determining the news cycle.”
One tool that is used to sort through these trending topics are hashtags, which classify social media posts.
Hashtags can connect a tweet to larger news story, According to a Pew Research Center Report. This makes it so that the journalist can use shorter language and be more colloquial.
According to Katie O’Gorman, a former Marketing & Outreach Coordinator at Double Exposure: Investigative Film Festival, hashtags can help make newsworthy quotes and events easier for the public to understand.
“Hashtags helped give understanding and context to the tweets because then people could click on the hashtag and have a better idea of what the quote I tweeted described,” said O’ Gorman.
News organizations can expand their audience to potential new followers through hashtags. This can also help them target a specific audience.
A Pew Research Center Study concluded that politically polarized groups on Twitter responded specifically to certain hashtags. If an online news outlet wanted to reach a more conservative base, they would use different hashtags than if they were attempting to reach a more liberal base.
Scott Talan, a professor in the American University School of Communication, thinks that hashtags and trending topics make journalists jobs easier.
“A big problem in journalism today is not finding out your own stories but recovering stories that have been done elsewhere; which is easier and quicker,” said Talan. “What value is that reporter or news outlet adding if they’re simply going to social sources?”
But easier doesn’t have to mean worse, according to Lauren Lumpkin, Editor-In-Chief of The Blackprint, a student-run online news publication at American University. Lumpkin said that what’s trending on social media can spark a reporter’s interest to cover a story.
“We are all very connected on social media,” said Lumpkin. “A lot of pitches are ‘I saw this thing on Twitter’ or ‘I saw this thing on Instagram.”
Lumpkin believes that social media popularity precedes news coverage. Hashtags for social movements, such as #BlackLivesMatter or #OscarsSoWhite make it easier for reporters to track events and coverage of them.
“I really like hashtags,” said Lumpkin. “I think starting things on social media make it move so much faster and gain a bigger following.”
It’s not just growing a story, hashtags themselves can be used to explain or tell a story. A study in local news conducted by Pew Research Center concluded that people were more likely to use hashtags than hyperlinks in their tweets, and local news outlets used hashtags for both local and national areas of interest.
A survey conducted by Pew Research Center when comparing users interaction with photos, URLs and hashtags, determined that hashtags were the only one where the average percent of a users tweets contained the same amount for “all tweets” and “news tweets.”
In the context of news, a hashtag can be beneficial for an organization to understand what stories and topics are gaining traction. According to the same Pew study, 86 percent of tweets that included “#Ferguson” related to the events in Ferguson, Missouri.
According to O’ Gorman, there are certain times when hashtags are most effective.
“For a public and live conference it helped when people were discussing the topics online and wanted to see the latest conversations surrounding them,” said O’ Gorman.
As important as they can be to connect readers with newsworthy stories, it’s equally important to not overuse hashtags in a news piece and risk them lessening their impact.
“In terms of the way they actually work, they’re very important,” said Patterson. “In terms of the way that we socially talk about them, they are starting to feel a little tired,” said Patterson.
While Talan describes himself as a supporter of social media and using it in a classroom setting, he doesn’t always favor its use in news.
“I think there are limits,” said Talan. “People automatically assume we should do the hashtag and that the hashtag is going to do something, but that’s not always it.”
There’s still a lot to learn about social media and it’s impact on the news, according to Patterson, but he predicts that people will continue to watch them both grow together.
What came first: the media coverage or the trending topic? In the news today, it’s getting harder to determine the answer.
“One can’t exist without the other,” said Jeremiah Patterson, a Digital Manager at the Online News Association and Professor in the American University School of Communication.
This is because trending topics are news topics that spoke to people, according to Patterson. The reason they’re popular and trending is because people want to know more.
However, Patterson is skeptical about reporters always covering trending topics on social media, especially in regards to President Donald Trump’s tweets.
“I’ve never seen the news cover every little thing so much,” said Patterson. “That’s a huge example of social media determining the news cycle.”
One tool that is used to sort through these trending topics are hashtags, which classify social media posts.
Hashtags can connect a tweet to larger news story, According to a Pew Research Center Report. This makes it so that the journalist can use shorter language and be more colloquial.
According to Katie O’Gorman, a former Marketing & Outreach Coordinator at Double Exposure: Investigative Film Festival, hashtags can help make newsworthy quotes and events easier for the public to understand.
“Hashtags helped give understanding and context to the tweets because then people could click on the hashtag and have a better idea of what the quote I tweeted described,” said O’ Gorman.
News organizations can expand their audience to potential new followers through hashtags. This can also help them target a specific audience.
A Pew Research Center Study concluded that politically polarized groups on Twitter responded specifically to certain hashtags. If an online news outlet wanted to reach a more conservative base, they would use different hashtags than if they were attempting to reach a more liberal base.
Scott Talan, a professor in the American University School of Communication, thinks that hashtags and trending topics make journalists jobs easier.
“A big problem in journalism today is not finding out your own stories but recovering stories that have been done elsewhere; which is easier and quicker,” said Talan. “What value is that reporter or news outlet adding if they’re simply going to social sources?”
But easier doesn’t have to mean worse, according to Lauren Lumpkin, Editor-In-Chief of The Blackprint, a student-run online news publication at American University. Lumpkin said that what’s trending on social media can spark a reporter’s interest to cover a story.
“We are all very connected on social media,” said Lumpkin. “A lot of pitches are ‘I saw this thing on Twitter’ or ‘I saw this thing on Instagram.”
Lumpkin believes that social media popularity precedes news coverage. Hashtags for social movements, such as #BlackLivesMatter or #OscarsSoWhite make it easier for reporters to track events and coverage of them.
“I really like hashtags,” said Lumpkin. “I think starting things on social media make it move so much faster and gain a bigger following.”
It’s not just growing a story, hashtags themselves can be used to explain or tell a story. A study in local news conducted by Pew Research Center concluded that people were more likely to use hashtags than hyperlinks in their tweets, and local news outlets used hashtags for both local and national areas of interest.
A survey conducted by Pew Research Center when comparing users interaction with photos, URLs and hashtags, determined that hashtags were the only one where the average percent of a users tweets contained the same amount for “all tweets” and “news tweets.”
In the context of news, a hashtag can be beneficial for an organization to understand what stories and topics are gaining traction. According to the same Pew study, 86 percent of tweets that included “#Ferguson” related to the events in Ferguson, Missouri.
According to O’ Gorman, there are certain times when hashtags are most effective.
“For a public and live conference it helped when people were discussing the topics online and wanted to see the latest conversations surrounding them,” said O’ Gorman.
As important as they can be to connect readers with newsworthy stories, it’s equally important to not overuse hashtags in a news piece and risk them lessening their impact.
“In terms of the way they actually work, they’re very important,” said Patterson. “In terms of the way that we socially talk about them, they are starting to feel a little tired,” said Patterson.
While Talan describes himself as a supporter of social media and using it in a classroom setting, he doesn’t always favor its use in news.
“I think there are limits,” said Talan. “People automatically assume we should do the hashtag and that the hashtag is going to do something, but that’s not always it.”
There’s still a lot to learn about social media and it’s impact on the news, according to Patterson, but he predicts that people will continue to watch them both grow together.
Put your records on: Vinyl is making a comeback
by Aubrey Gelpieryn
Joint Custody on U Street in Washington sells a variety of records. Manager Ambrose Nzams says they try to represent all types of music equally with their selection. (Photo by Aubrey Gelpieryn)
WASHINGTON – There’s a rustling as Quincey Tickner shuffles through a crate of records she’s discovered in the radio studio. Excitedly, she picks each one up, commenting on the collection.
“It [vinyl] is important to get people more in touch with the artists themselves and to really know what an album is,” says Tickner, a senior at American University and the host of “Vinyl Richie,” an exclusively vinyl music show on the No. 1 student-run, internet-only station in the nation, WVAU. “We live in an era where music is released online and you don’t even have to go to a record store. People take music for granted in a way because it’s so easily accessible,”
Like Tickner, a lot of young people are starting to collect vinyl music. Trends show an influx in vinyl sales, especially with people between the ages of 13-24, who represent 24 percent of vinyl listeners, according to surveys conducted by MusicWatch Inc.
Suah Cheong, a sophomore at American, decided to buy her turntable after finding a new Foster the People record at T.J. Maxx for $9.
“I was already planning on getting a record player,” says Cheong. “Then I saw that cheap record and was like, it’s time now.”
Nationally, vinyl sales are on the rise. BuzzAngle Music’s industry numbers show that vinyl sales increased by 22.5 percent from 2016 to 2017, reaching a 25-year high.
Cheong says she first became interested in vinyl because of “peer pressure.”
“All my friends in high school had record players,” says Cheong. “It was a social activity to go to my friends’ houses and sit around listening to records.”
Though it’s a growing trend, not all vinyl fans are new to the scene.
“For some people they [records] never left,” says Ambrose Nzams, a manager at the Washington-based vintage clothing and record store Joint Custody.
Nzams has been collecting records since he was 14 years old.
“I started listening because when you get into punk and hardcore, it’s a medium that never went out of style,” says Nzams. “If you want something, it’s only available on a seven-inch, so you have to buy it on a seven-inch.”
Listening to music on vinyl isn’t just a new fad for Tickner either. She thinks that records help people connect with the artist more than digital streaming.
“I grew up listening to records, so when I switched to digital music it didn’t sound as genuine and realistic,” says Tickner. “I put on The Supremes records in the morning, and they’re like they’re performing in my room.”
James Gianello, another manager at Joint Custody, says his main way of listening to music is on vinyl.
“You can have really high quality digital, but it hasn’t quite caught up yet,” Gianello says. “With the stuff you’re streaming, you lose a lot.”
Although the warm audio quality is a popular reason for people to say they like listening to vinyl, not everyone can tell the difference.
“Not gonna lie, I’m not enough of an audiophile to be able to say the sound quality is better,” says Cheong. “It’s all the same to me, but there’s something more personal or intimate about putting a piece of plastic on the record player and sound coming from the plastic. It’s like a toy.”
And there are more components to records than the sounds they produce.
“With vinyl you get the full package,” says Gianello. “You get the art. You know you can really sit down and you’re kind of forced to focus on it more than you are with digital, where you can skip a track very easily.”
Nana Gongadze, a freshman at American, shares the sentiment.
“When I have my records it’s about the tactile experience,” says Gongadze. “Holding it, putting it on the player, just enjoying it and looking at the artwork – it’s much more about the physical experience of putting it on to listen to it.”
However, not everyone is sold on the Vinyl trend. Brianna Ryan, a sophomore at American, prefers to listen to her music with Apple Music, a digital streaming application.
“I wouldn’t even know where to buy that stuff and it’s expensive,” Ryan says, when talking about why she doesn’t listen to vinyl records.
Her style of listening to music differs from Tickner’s, who believes that albums should play in their entirety in order to best respect the artists’ layouts of their music.
“I choose songs,” says Ryan. “I only listen to full albums if it’s an artist I really love. Otherwise, I only listen to the popular songs.”
While it’s undeniable that record players aren’t as convenient as other formats for quick listening to music, there’s still a loyal base of people who shop at record stores regularly.
“I really value physical space and I think physical space is really valuable for communities,” says Nzams. “I like having the store as a place where people can be comfortable and come in and talk about music.”
Joint Custody, which is located on Washington’s U Street, is a store that prides itself on being a place where people from all walks of life can come together to appreciate music. The staff keeps the bins stocked with a variety of records in all genres to make sure they have something that appeals to everyone who comes in. Across the speakers, the music pauses momentarily, as the turntable stops and record flips to the B-side.
As the vinyl trend continues to grow, stores like Joint Custody help develop a community of people who listen to records by connecting the new fans with those who have been collecting for years.
“Some people buy it for the art, some people buy it because they prefer the sound quality and other people like collecting,” says Nzams. “I think it’s all about having the physical, and that’s what it comes down to.”
“It [vinyl] is important to get people more in touch with the artists themselves and to really know what an album is,” says Tickner, a senior at American University and the host of “Vinyl Richie,” an exclusively vinyl music show on the No. 1 student-run, internet-only station in the nation, WVAU. “We live in an era where music is released online and you don’t even have to go to a record store. People take music for granted in a way because it’s so easily accessible,”
Like Tickner, a lot of young people are starting to collect vinyl music. Trends show an influx in vinyl sales, especially with people between the ages of 13-24, who represent 24 percent of vinyl listeners, according to surveys conducted by MusicWatch Inc.
Suah Cheong, a sophomore at American, decided to buy her turntable after finding a new Foster the People record at T.J. Maxx for $9.
“I was already planning on getting a record player,” says Cheong. “Then I saw that cheap record and was like, it’s time now.”
Nationally, vinyl sales are on the rise. BuzzAngle Music’s industry numbers show that vinyl sales increased by 22.5 percent from 2016 to 2017, reaching a 25-year high.
Cheong says she first became interested in vinyl because of “peer pressure.”
“All my friends in high school had record players,” says Cheong. “It was a social activity to go to my friends’ houses and sit around listening to records.”
Though it’s a growing trend, not all vinyl fans are new to the scene.
“For some people they [records] never left,” says Ambrose Nzams, a manager at the Washington-based vintage clothing and record store Joint Custody.
Nzams has been collecting records since he was 14 years old.
“I started listening because when you get into punk and hardcore, it’s a medium that never went out of style,” says Nzams. “If you want something, it’s only available on a seven-inch, so you have to buy it on a seven-inch.”
Listening to music on vinyl isn’t just a new fad for Tickner either. She thinks that records help people connect with the artist more than digital streaming.
“I grew up listening to records, so when I switched to digital music it didn’t sound as genuine and realistic,” says Tickner. “I put on The Supremes records in the morning, and they’re like they’re performing in my room.”
James Gianello, another manager at Joint Custody, says his main way of listening to music is on vinyl.
“You can have really high quality digital, but it hasn’t quite caught up yet,” Gianello says. “With the stuff you’re streaming, you lose a lot.”
Although the warm audio quality is a popular reason for people to say they like listening to vinyl, not everyone can tell the difference.
“Not gonna lie, I’m not enough of an audiophile to be able to say the sound quality is better,” says Cheong. “It’s all the same to me, but there’s something more personal or intimate about putting a piece of plastic on the record player and sound coming from the plastic. It’s like a toy.”
And there are more components to records than the sounds they produce.
“With vinyl you get the full package,” says Gianello. “You get the art. You know you can really sit down and you’re kind of forced to focus on it more than you are with digital, where you can skip a track very easily.”
Nana Gongadze, a freshman at American, shares the sentiment.
“When I have my records it’s about the tactile experience,” says Gongadze. “Holding it, putting it on the player, just enjoying it and looking at the artwork – it’s much more about the physical experience of putting it on to listen to it.”
However, not everyone is sold on the Vinyl trend. Brianna Ryan, a sophomore at American, prefers to listen to her music with Apple Music, a digital streaming application.
“I wouldn’t even know where to buy that stuff and it’s expensive,” Ryan says, when talking about why she doesn’t listen to vinyl records.
Her style of listening to music differs from Tickner’s, who believes that albums should play in their entirety in order to best respect the artists’ layouts of their music.
“I choose songs,” says Ryan. “I only listen to full albums if it’s an artist I really love. Otherwise, I only listen to the popular songs.”
While it’s undeniable that record players aren’t as convenient as other formats for quick listening to music, there’s still a loyal base of people who shop at record stores regularly.
“I really value physical space and I think physical space is really valuable for communities,” says Nzams. “I like having the store as a place where people can be comfortable and come in and talk about music.”
Joint Custody, which is located on Washington’s U Street, is a store that prides itself on being a place where people from all walks of life can come together to appreciate music. The staff keeps the bins stocked with a variety of records in all genres to make sure they have something that appeals to everyone who comes in. Across the speakers, the music pauses momentarily, as the turntable stops and record flips to the B-side.
As the vinyl trend continues to grow, stores like Joint Custody help develop a community of people who listen to records by connecting the new fans with those who have been collecting for years.
“Some people buy it for the art, some people buy it because they prefer the sound quality and other people like collecting,” says Nzams. “I think it’s all about having the physical, and that’s what it comes down to.”