Abstract: The research studies the Impact of Social Media in Modern Journalism in Nigeria (A case study of Yenego). At moment, majority of Journalists in Yenegoa prefer facebook and Twitter as their networking tools . A great number of Journalists in Yenegoa have access to internet and are exposed to social media networking tools. The researcher studied a population of 400 people whereby she used purpose sampling technique was accurately used to select sample size of 150 which the total 110 were retrieved. It is also true that Some Journalists in Yenegoa Metropolis require basic computer training in order to be relevant in the modern Journalism practice and to explore the various opportunities that internet and social media have to offer. It was recommended that; Press men should conduct research on the available social media networking tools to verify which one of them is more trust working and reliable in order to ensure credibility of source.
Secondly that, media organizations, press bodies and government should provide facilities for training and retraining of Journalists on the new information and communication technology (ICT) in order to ensure professionalism and quality services to modern and sophisticated media consumer. Media organizations should organize seminar and workshop to sensitized and educate Journalists on the impact of social media tools so that they can embraces social media and use social networking tools to improve their skills and professionalism in Yenegoa city.
Impact of Social Media in Modern Journalism in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
A century and half ago communication between countries involved physical presence. With the advent of the digital technology the role of the journalism became indispensible. The beginning of information communication technology such as the internet has made it possible to find out about events without actually being there. Journalists report news across the world over the internet. Throughout history, developments in technology and communication have been going hand in hand, and the latest technological developments such as the internet have resulted in the advancement of the science of communication and taken journalism to the next level. This process of human communication has evolved over the years, with many path- breaking interventions and discoveries. The first written communication in the ancient world brought about written communication.
The intervention which are of paper, wax and paprus culminating in 13th century made it possible for transfer of documents from one place to another uniformity of languages over long distances.
Social media have being boosting electronic communication. It is therefore worthy of emphasis that it is the interactive and collaborative nature of these internet based tools that attracted the word “social”.. This truism underscores Nwodu (2007:7) position revolutions taking place in communication technologies have further reduced Mcluhan’s global village level to ‘’ a tiny global family’’ which is the lowest level of social groupings. Nwabueze (2010) notes that social media platforms lay emphasis and dialogue or two way active contribution by both sender and receiver in message development.
This underscore why for the social media we have user unlike the mainstream where we characteristically have access to new media technologies with internet connectivity, you can only qualify as a user because of its interactive nature whereby you can post comments online and interact with others who are as well connected irrespective of geographical locations. This underscore the populating of user generated contents as users generate contents for online interaction. Social media is thus credited with the following characteristic.
- They are interactive Web 1.0 internet – based applications.
- They operate on user generated contents such as text, posts or comments, digital photos or comments or videos and online generated.
- They provide basic for users to create services specific profile for the website or App that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
- They facilitate the development of social networking by connecting as user’s profile with those of others individuals or groups (Obar and Build man 2015)
Social media is therefore what it is because of advent of the internet. Without internet therefore, perhaps there would have been be anything like social media since all social media platforms function via internet access. This underscores Kaplan and Hamenlin (2010) definition of social media as a media that use web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologue into social media dialogue. On his part, Keitzman and Kristopher (2011) explain social media as “computer mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and showing of information, ideas carrier interest and other forms of expression, via vital communities and network.
Social media via therefore differ from the traditional mass media like newspapers magazines, radio, television and film in view of its web- bases. One outstanding difference is that social media platforms like facebook, twitter, 2go, Instagram and others make maximal interaction between people irrespective of geographical barriers.
Journalism on the other hand is the deliberate and conscious efforts to gather information, collating and analyzing data for the purpose of informing, entertaining and educating the people with a view of making an appropriate decision (Casimn Akimrefi, 2002). Journalism is also an investigation and reporting events, issues and trends to a large audience. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience about topic’s ranging from government and business organization to cultural aspects of society such as arts and entertainer. The field of journalism include, editing, photo journalism and documentary. The work is posed to assess the impact of social media in modern journalism in Yenegoa city.
Impact of Social Media in Modern Journalism in Nigeria
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The impact of social media in today’s world of communication cannot be over looked. Since it’s arrival social media have positively changed the way journalists work, how stories are developed and disseminated. Social media have had positive impact without doubt, but there are also concerns about their impact: productivity and the disruption it could have on journalists working patterns. Social media have created a dependency among those working in the media and many are unable to do without them.
Social media have become journalist’s lexicon and it seems sourcing information has overtaken self- promotion as a primary social activity. While journalists are growing more sophisticated in their use of social media and are for instance, using a great variety to sources for news, some journalistic activities, their engagement with their audience, their products and the quality of their works. Based on these contrasting views, the question. This research seen to unearth how social media affected the journalists in Yenegoa metropolis with regards to their journalistic duties
1.3 Objectives of the study
- To ascertain the type of social media tools which journalists in Yenegoa metropolis prefer.
- To know if journalists in Yenegoa metropolis are exposed to social media networking tools.
- To determine whether social media have enhanced the productivity of journalists in Yenegoa metropolis.