The shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 created a community of ‘digital citizens’ who not only consume but also create and interact with media content (Cormode & Krishnamurthy, 2008). Web 2.0 predominantly includes popular websites and social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (Cormode & Krishnamurthy, 2008).
Hence, the phenomenon of posting photos and videos, and interacting with friends and family through these platforms has gained popularity in recent years (Tandoc Jr, Lim & Ling, 2020). Alongside, the trend to store and consume information, and be updated with the latest news has shifted to this ‘digital sphere’ (Warner & Wang, 2019). Thus, Rusbridger (2019) suggests the usage of social media for ‘citizen journalism’ (Rusbridger, 2019).
The role played by citizens in a democracy, by analysing, collecting, editing and contributing to the news, is known as ‘citizen journalism’ (Jeljeli, Setoutah & Farhi, 2021).
There are three causes for the rise of ‘citizen journalism’ on social media:
1. Mass Amateurization
With the web becoming a new ecosystem for news consumption, it has been argued that information and communication technology has become centric as to how our society functions and how we co-exist in this ‘network society’ (Wolske, Johnson & Adams, 2009). This is referred to as “mass amateurization” (Rusbridger, 2019, p.255).
2. Mutualisation
With time, readers are not only consuming news and information but also interacting with it and with other fellow readers. With the creation of a ‘community of readers’, a two-way channel of communication is formed, which enables conversations around societal concerns and issues to begin (Rusbridger, 2019).
3. ‘Voice’ to Under-represented & Marginalised Sections of the Society
It is believed that, due to the lack of diversity in print journalism, the concept of citizen journalism received a lot of boost from underrepresented and marginalised sections of society (Rusbridger, 2019). Hence, social media emerged to be a perfect platform for these groups to express and report their concerns and problems (Rusbridger, 2019).
One such brave citizen journalist, Darnella Frazier, an 18-year-old from Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for recording from her phone the unfortunate account of George Floyd’s death due to the oppressive and violent behaviour by Police officers in 2020 (McFadden, 2021). Not only did her footage become legal evidence in the case of Floyd’s murder, but it also commenced the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement, reflecting the racial abuse and police brutality faced by people of black origin (McFadden, 2021).
Social media platforms aim to bring different perspectives and opinions on one collective ‘stage’ and promote the idea of freedom of speech, hence enhancing the principles of journalism online (Kümpel, Karnowski & Keyling, 2015). However, dangers, such as ‘misinformation’, and vulnerability and possible surveillance of our personal data by social media giants, still shadow over excessive usage and reliance on these sites (Warner & Wang, 2019).
While Web 1.0 was about looking into and reading into content and events occurring in society, Web 2.0 is about participating and stating your views on the same (Rusbridger, 2019), and where social media platforms play a vital tool in “accessing, discussing, and sharing news content” (Kümpel, Karnowski & Keyling, 2015, p.10).
Bibliography
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McFadden, S. (2021). What giving a Pulitzer Prize for filming George Floyd’s murder to Darnella Frazier really means. Retrieved 13 January 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/what-giving-pulitzer-prize-filming-george-floyd-s-murder-darnella-ncna1270778
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