Twitter and Whitney Houston death
The Power of Social Media showed up again over the weekend with the death of Whitney Houston because someone connected to a person who worked with Ms. Houston posted a Tweet 45 minutes before the Press knew! WOW! Power of the People vs. Power of the Press – that’s where I see things happening! First person reporting vs. the perspective of a specific media representative.
As a Targeted Direct Marketing Consultant, I am amazed how things are changing in the media. In just a couple of years, more and more events are being reported though portals like Twitter and Facebook. Whereas, in the past, they would need to be put out in the media in order for people to know.
It’s no different than comparing an opt in email campaign to a direct mail campaign. A number of years ago, if you were to tell a colleague that you would be promoting your business through an opt in email campaign, they would have thought you were delusional. Of course that is not the case today. What’s even more fascinating is how direct mail is starting to pick up steam again since email has become so saturated.
I wanted to see what others were saying about how fast events are being picked up by social media. Here’s what I found:
Here is an article from Forbes titled, “Should you contact the Media in Social Media?” What a concept! The articles states that the media is shedding more reporters each year since more and more people are turning to alternative sources. Why wouldn’t they if they can get more timely news??
Here is one more article from Global Health Hub titled, “Social Media Faster Than Traditional Sources in Tracking Cholera in Haiti.” Not only is it faster, but quite often it is coming from the source vs. a reporter.
