The ubiquitous nature of social media has an obvious effect on where we go to for our news updates. With increasingly powerful smartphones, anyone can be an amateur news reporter and deliver eye witness reports, photos, videos and real time updates to their online network.
Mainstream media has to keep up with our changing expectations for how news is delivered, often with mixed results. Many journalists find interesting, quirky stories through social media trends. Take for example the story of the iPhone bug where the alarms were not adjusted when clocks changed to mark the end of British Summer Time.
Less impressive is the media's growing tendency to treat Twitter streams as a credible news source, quoting twitter users for 'reaction' and calling it quality journalism. There is a world difference between quoting a credible news source and using information from a source who hides behind an anonymous online avatar. Sooner or later, these lazy shortcuts will come back to bite you.
Don't believe me? Look at how ASOS sparked a twitter frenzy when they declared a 'street style shooting' on Oxford Street where they were filming their new ad. Before long, the story became 'shooting on Oxford Street'. A sensible Sky News reporter eventually cleared up the matter by calling the Police to clarify the situation, but not before several national news sources picked up on the story.
Think before you retweet or you could end up being a lazy hack or reckless retweeter's source, whether you want to be or not.
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