How Social Media has influenced traditional media in the modern era
Written by Ella Desewu
On June 16th 2021 I attended the 45 minutes with Aaron Akinyemi event hosted by The Black Comms Network and moderated by Addy Frederick.
The talk was mostly focused on the importance of social media in relation to media relations. He spoke about the use of Twitter and how it can be essential for certain roles especially fact finding, sourcing contributors and using the #JournoRequest. Social media has open-source information where you can search for relevant people’s connection e.g, a family member of someone you are writing about. However, he also stressed that you need to be wary with how you use this information as everyone these days is a citizen journalist and so it is important to double check and verify context and facts. Disinformation on subjects such as Covid-19 can be found on social media so it needs to be authenticated.
Akinyemi explained how the BBC in particular create content specifically for social media e.g. square videos for Facebook and portrait for IGTV to make them user friendly. “You have to bring you’re a game in the first 3 seconds”. Research shows you have 3 seconds to grab your audience for a video and are competing with millions of others. When creating content for television and YouTube the audience is there to stay whereas on other social media platforms they are scrolling through so it is important to find a way to make them stop and pay attention.
The use of social media during the pandemic normalised the way in which the BBC would see or receive videos; then editing them and adding to it, rather than them filming their own content. Akinyemi’s example of this was during the pandemic the media was not always accurately representing the NHS with regards to the amount of Black and POC workers in the organisation and the #Don’tRushChallenge was going viral on TikTok. There were black women doctors who took part in this challenge and the BBC shared this and spoke to the doctors who took part, highlighting the true diversity of the NHS. He explained how he found the original video and sent it to his team which subsequently featured in BBC Africa.
Lastly, he spoke about how right-wing audiences try to dictate the stories they cover through social media comments etc. The BBC at times has thought twice about covering international stories due to this. He explained that some media houses editorial agenda is specific and bias. As the BBC is paid for by the public, they have to reflect the entirety of Britain not just the minority who try to change their stance. Because the BBC has the funding, they do not have commercial pressures, they aren’t doing things just to get the clicks, but they are duty bound to cover what people are talking about and what is trending and popular on social media.
The talk gave an in depth understanding into the way that social media is essential for journalists and PRs, how the BBC caters for their audience, and how they create stories.
Aaron Akinyemi is a London based journalised but works in the BBC World Service and focuses on BBC Africa so often travels.