Guest Contribution – For many people, news is what makes the world go around. But over time, this industry has had to stomach some of the most profound changes of any industry, and the rise of the digital market has proven a headache for many who used to ply their trade in news, media, and journalism. 

Before social media became such a hotbed of news and opinion, local news was something many journalists took pride in. In some cases, they would take weeks or months to build a story, they would live and breathe the story, the audience was more on board with the idea of waiting a day or two to get a full idea of the latest news, rather than the dynamic we see today were clicks, likes and views often determine the speed at which we get our news. This applies to local news just as it does to global events.  

Social media has played a vital role in this new dynamic, and as it continues to be an increasingly influential route for people to get their news, how will local news continue to survive in a market that is becoming increasingly profit-driven and more attuned to misinformation rather than properly sourced news from people who have credentials and journalistic experience? 

Leveraging The Global Market 

Some industries have been able to capitalize on the rise of the global market. We have seen it in online casino gaming: the rise of global markets has meant that online casinos, or those that have established a global presence, have become beneficiaries of this shift to all things digital.  

Those who play jackpot slots understand how influential the rise of the digital age has been. The market has gone from being a localized selection of jackpot games to games that connect right across multiple time zones and international markets. From a design and user perspective, it has added thousands of additional titles and prizes and has bolstered the industry’s credibility in a fiercely competitive global entertainment market. 

Promotional ideas like welcome bonuses have been a mainstay in the market, both before the internet and since the advent of online casinos 30 years ago. Social media has been imperative in getting these promotional ideas in front of a market that has a strong understanding of how the igaming world works.  

Instead of a scattergun approach, social media has been able to get casino gamers together in one place, whether they are registered to their site via e-mail or follow them on Instagram, and then push bespoke marketing in their direction. 

Social Media’s Profound Influence In Media 

Looking at the industry as a whole, there are plenty of media companies that have made a fortune by being early and getting ahead of mass digital adoption. YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix are all multi-billion-dollar companies that have built business models solely focused on the potential of a fully digital offering. 

Even if you are looking for local news, there’s an increasingly global feel to it, as in the story about the tunnel under the Panama Canal. Some sites do this from an SEO perspective, ensuring they hit terms and keywords that propel stories into the right algorithms.  

The foundation of social media has meant that anyone can be a vessel for news. Ideally, verifying them as a source is crucial, but on sites like Twitter (now known as X), where misinformation spreads like wildfire; this is obviously not a positive factor for the long-term health of media and news.  

By scrapping a function that allowed users to report misinformation and monetizing those who get the most clicks (because they bring the most traffic to the site), Twitter has become a volcano of bubbling, misguided news. So, it’s important to remember that just because something is cheaper, easier to access, and instantly available doesn’t mean it is more valuable.  

The Impact On Local News Moving Forward 

As the media dynamic has changed so sharply in the last decade, many people now follow specific local journalists rather than pages themselves. They will follow them on social media sites like YouTube or Instagram, knowing that they corroborate their sources and deliver a more balanced view of the news.  

Local news is going to survive, but social media will be imperative in shaping how it looks. More grassroots journalists, more people taking to the likes of YouTube, podcasts, and blog posts, replacing long-form articles from journalists with credentials.  

It’s not all doom and gloom: the presence of the internet, especially in local news, has helped bring in global internet traffic. When leveraged properly, this can keep old legacy media that has made the switch to digital, still profitable, even more profitable than they were before the internet in some cases, but social media has played an enormous role in changing how we get our news, and it’s likely to remain this way for the foreseeable future.

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