Life Lessons from Ricky Bobby: A College Junior's Rambling's on Social News Outlets

Amanda Hagley
ah725510@ohio.edu

Early Bird Gets the Worm

When outlets for news sway from websites to television to social media, different challenges arise depending on the individual medium. Is it interesting? Is it visually stimulating? Does it grab attention? Will it sell? Are you first? Are you accurate?

Those last two questions are going to be the topics of discussion for this rant. Sure, you want to be the first to report something. The first to know about a celebrity death or the first to report about some traumatic event of terrorism at the airport. But is it worth being first if you don't have all the facts? And how, with so many individual's having the ability to tweet and share information online, do you even begin to be the first to publish news?

If You're Not First, You're Last?

Photo Courtesy of myspace.com

Well, as it turns out, it may not matter if you're first as long as you're the more credible source.  "But Amanda, if someone gets the word out before me does it even matter where it's from?" Hush hush child, I'll get to that. As it turns out, due to so many internet hoaxes and false information about celebrity deaths, information coming from some nameless Twitter handle as opposed to a reputable news source isn't going to be taken as seriously as it might have been at the beginning of the social media empire.

So don't you worry your pretty little heads. Sure, you need to be quick. That's always been a factor of the news industry. But losing your credibility in the name of being first may not be worth your effort. So when Ricky Bobby tries to tell you, "If you're not first, you're last" just let him go on with his endless shenanigans and you go on with your reliable reporting.

End Rant

I think that social media is a great challenge for the news industry. It forces us to change, to grow, and to be faster and better than before. I don't think that we should start compromising truth and quality in order to get the story out first. So take a deep breath, take a swig of your pretentious caffeinated beverage and get your information out. Accurately, quickly and effectively.