Have you ever had the chance to become the first person to tell others what happened, how it happened, why it happened and what not? Was it exciting? Do you think it is possible that ordinary people have the ability to broadcast information to a huge audience first before the media? Are they believable?
What was then?
Before, communication was one-way. Source-medium-receiver, that’s it.
Before, there were only few sources of information. Media such as television, newspaper and radio were the fundamental suppliers of news. These people filter whatever information first before it reached the public such as those reporters who had to convey the news to the editor-in-chief who had to approve what was to broadcast. The news had to pass through a lot of stages before being able to be relayed to the public, hence, taking some time before reaching the public.
And before, greater people were mere passive audience who just receive information and who relied too much to such group to know what was happening. Since it was one-way, people had no opportunities to provide feedback. And because their media were so credible, most did not care to inquire, suggest, criticize or doubt.
What is now?
As what Gangbadoy, in Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) Congress held last September 3, 2011, said, “I am my own newspaper.” Yes, we are our own newspapers, radios, and televisions!
The technology we have today brought us innovative and revolutionary devices that could really change the way we are used to things. Unlike before, what we have at present is a fast and scattered sources of information. We, ourselves are sources of information. Such social media as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google and many more came and became platforms for every person to communicate, share, create and become new and fresh informants, at an instant.
Now, such audience are not mere audience anymore but communities who have the ability to provide feedback, to criticize, to co-create or what have you. And as sources, we have the ability to immediately answer people’s queries, clarifications, comments, opinions, etc, forming a thread of messages where a lot of individuals could participate. The information flow is very engaging, interactive and ranges to a wide scope.
Moreover, the public as dispersed and quick suppliers can go ahead the media in conveying events/ facts by putting on websites like Youtube what happened or tweeting to large communities the hot news. As a matter of fact, we even get to be the primary sources such as when the media come to know something through reading posts, tweets or watching videos of people thereby including in their program videos and posts from such sites.
In this fast-tracked world, the news five minutes earlier could be old news and new trending information are searched and needed by people making online influencers or well-known contributors significant.
Today, we get to have walls, posts, tweets, videos, etc. of events that already happened, are happening or will happen…
…
But unlike the media then, some people nowadays may not be credible and may be the 21st century “barberos” as well. Some may be posting wrong, insufficient or made-up information for the sake of being able to post something exciting and in.
Communities now possess greater power to impact others by being sources of relevant, substantial or trendy information. Therefore, the Spiderman quote (as reminded by the PRSP Congress speaker, Mr. Joey Alarilla) applies to everyone, “great power comes great responsibility.” We are the 21st century newspapers hence the call for us to be responsible contributors and truthful content providers.
P.S.
Yesterday (9/17), I created my own Twitter account. Yesterday, I became my own newspaper by broadcasting to people what happened in the Samsung Cheerdance Competition 2011. And whoa! UP Pep Squad proudly grabbed every award there were, from Best Stunner to Best Stunt Group to the title 2011 CHAMPION for the Samsung Cheerdance Competition. Yeah! Excellence in every way! (^_^) 
priancytricilia 
By being the 21st century newspapers we can make our online presence more significant to the community. However like the traditional media, we must also practice ethics in posting our news and opinions online, like the super hero line you said- “great power comes great responsibility.”n_n
Aside from being credible sources of information, we should be experts in filtering the information that we receive since there are also “barberos” in the online community. Being critical is really important here in online world where anybody can be an “expert”. >.<
True, filtering of information is one of the major responsibilities people need to deal with, especially now in this fast tracked and ever dynamic world where information flow is too fast and scattered that the sources tend to be buried deep within threads of messages and where people just post for the sake of being the first regardless of the accuracy of their information.
Thanks for stopping by! (^_^)
“But unlike the media then, some people nowadays may not be credible and may be the 21st century “barberos” as well. Some may be posting wrong, insufficient or made-up information for the sake of being able to post something exciting and in.”
Hear hear. I always say that: with social media comes the need for self regulation. Content is more liberated now and we have to handle it responsibly. Social media is one of the biggest and best changes in communication and we should embrace it. But I think it’s important to take its content with a grain of salt and not believe everything right away.
It is true that it’s exciting to be the “mover” of the conversation and it’s also true that people are becoming “barbero” HAHA especially when something goes viral, people do not even bother to check the authenticity of the post -sigh- That means more opportunity for us to clean the clutter and be relevant in the blogosphere at least, GYAHAHAHA
@Janine, yes to not believe in everything right away. I am guilty of this for I have forwarded messages I thought were valid but were not. This I found out after someone messaged me about it.This leads to to another significance of social media for people can comment or share their knowledge that such content is not true or is just made up hence raising awareness to many.
@Arlet, if offline, there are a lot of ‘barberos’ already, what more online where people could be anonymous and have more confidence to post things which are not true right?
(^_^)