Twitter revolutionizes media industry

Twitter revolutionizes media industry

By Kim Tae-gyu When a fire engulfed a 38-story apartment building in the country’s southeastern port city of Busan last month, it was Twitter that first reported the news to people ahead of traditional media. When torrential rains drenched Seoul and its vicinity in late September, it was also social networking sites like Twitter and Me2day that covered various sites around the city on a real time basis. Conventional media like newspapers, TV networks and even Internet-based journals have been caught off guard as the fast growth of social network service (SNS) sites become alternative sources for news. Yet, there are more reasons why they should sweat — the SNS sites also undercut the dominance of TV stations and newspapers on the consumption of news by influencing people’s decision on what to read or watch. “In the past, editors of newspapers or TV networks decided what would be printed or aired. They had the exclusive rights to filter the news as gate-keepers when there were just a few media outlets,” Professor Lee Jae-shin at Chung-Ang Unversity said. “But the advent of the Internet and SNS sites has changed the rules. The increase of media outlets caused a so-called information overflow. Currently, many people read articles recommended by their SNS friends.” In other words, social networking sites are now playing the role of gate-keepers. Lee said that the trend would accelerate in the future. Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI), a private think tank affiliated with the country’s primary conglomerate Samsung Group, described such tendency as the “gate-keeping by collective intelligence.” “Instead of depending on editors of the existing media, many people resort to their trusted friends who forward news clips or intriguing data tailored to their own tastes,” SERI researcher Chae Seung-byung said. “It is a new way of filtering processes by collective intelligence. Companies need to learn something from this — Internet users start to consume data in a different fashion compared to the past.” Chae said that conventional media have seen their credibility fall because many think that their filtering procedures are not fair and this prompted their readers or watchers to defect to SNS friends. “Up until now, the Internet services have developed to increase real-time networking functionalities between users. Twitter or Me2day are the latest champions,” Chae said. “The development path is not likely to change that much, thus undermining the dominance of newspapers or TV. From the perspective of the traditional media, they need to regain the trust but it is more easily said than done.” ‘트위터 혁명’ 뉴스의 얼굴을 바꾸다 10월 초 부산 초고층 아파트 화재나 9월 수도권 홍수 때 생생한 화면을 제일 처음 전한 것은 주류 매체가 아닌 트위터나 미투데이 같은 SNS 사이트였다. 뉴스 생산에서 SNS가 기존 매체의 아성을 위협하고 있는 것은 새로울 게 없다. 기존 매체 입장에서 더욱 위협적인 사실은 뉴스의 생산 뿐만 아니라 소비에 있어서도 SNS의 역할이 커진다는 점이다. 이전에는 신문이나 TV 방송국에서 어떤 뉴스가 나갈지 정하는 게이트 키핑 (gate-keeping) 역할을 독점했다. 하지만 현재 게이트 키핑 역할은 인터넷 상에서 분산되고 있다. 정보의 홍수 시대를 맞아 사람들이 특정 신문이나 방송을 통해 뉴스를 접하지 않고 SNS 지인이나 친구들의 추천이나 링크를 받은 사이트만 열어 보는 것이다. 삼성경제연구소의 채승병 연구원은 “뉴스의 생산과 소비 양쪽 측면에서 SNS의 파급력이 커지고 있다. 앞으로 그런 경향은 더욱 가속화 될 것으로 보인다”라고 지적하고 있다.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr