Here are the slides and audio from my presentation at the Journalism Interactive conference at the University of Maryland. The title of the talk was Share, Like, Recommend: Decoding the Social Media News Consumer. Abstract: Social media is becoming ever more ingrained in the experience of news consumers. Social networking sites are evolving from being more than spaces for personal exchanges, becoming one of the mediums for sharing and recommending the

Here is the video from the emerging research panel I took part in at the Journalism Interactive conference at the University of Maryland. The three presentations were by Zizi Papacharissi of University of Illinois at Chicago, Adrienne Russell of the University of Denver and myself. The session was moderated by Kalyani Chadha of the University of Maryland. The research presented: Share, Like, Recommend: Decoding the Social Media News Consumer; by Alfred Hermida.

You can almost hear journalists across newsrooms in Canada breathing a sigh of relief. Canadians still trust the mainstream media, despite the rise of social media, according to the latest Canadian Media Research Consortium (CMRC) report. According to a recent online survey of 1,682 adults, nine out of 10 Canadians judged information provided by traditional news media to be reliable and trustworthy. This compares to only one in four who say

A Pew study provides further evidence of the growing importance of social networks as a way for people to share and recommend news stories. The study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism shows how Facebook is increasingly driving traffic to news websites. While Google was the top referral service, accounting for about 30 per cent of traffic to news sites, social recommendation is playing an increasingly significant role.

The third in the CMRC’s series of reports on the news landscape in Canada reveals the dramatic impact that Facebook, Twitter and other social media services are having on the news diet of Canadians. Our report, Social Networks Transforming How Canadians Get the News (PDF), suggests that many people now expect the news to come to them, filtered by family, friends and acquantances rather than only by professional journalists. We found that 43%

With social recommendation becoming an increasingly important way that people get the news, the final research paper at ISOJ looked at how news travels on social networks. The research paper (PDF) by Brian Baresch, Dustin Harp, Lewis Knight and Carolyn Yaschur from the University of Texas at Austin surveyed 78 US Facebook users and the links they shared. The team suggested we are moving from an ink economy to a

PBS Mediashift is running a special series called Beyond J-School, taking an in-depth look at journalism education in the digital age. The series was kicked off by a piece I wrote on how to teach social media at journalism schools: Teaching social media is more than showing students the mechanics of Twitter. Rather, they should learn how to build a network of relevant followers and how to interact with them

Image via WikipediaThe UK’s newspaper watchdog, the PCC, has released the findings of its research into attitudes towards social networking. It found that 78% would change information they publish about themselves online if they thought the material would later be reproduced in the mainstream media. This is a new ethical issue for journalists, as Facebook and other social networking sites become sources for journalists. Social networking sites are used by

Image by gak via FlickrFans of the cancelled CBC show, Jpod, are planning to emulate the antics of fans across the border to save their beloved programme. A Facebook group has been set up to coordinate a mail-in blitz to CBC in support of Jpod on May 19th. The campaigners are suggested fans send in a little Lego man or woman in honour of the book’s cover and Douglas Coupland‘s

The Knight News Challenge describes newspapers as the glue that used to hold communities together. Of course, technology has changed everything. Now, instead, it is not the news media that is providing the online glue, but new players such as Facebook and MySpace. Social media has proved a runaway hit, especially among Canadians. A report by Ipsos Reid has found that Canadians spend an average of 5.4 hours per week