Have you ever really thought about what you are seeing online as being Real or Not? Better yet, have you really thought about the Twitter and Facebook streams the mainstream media..Television and Radio…show during their broadcast?
Of course, like you, I have and those News Media programs using a mockup stream of their online social spaces during their Live broadcast paints a sad picture of their lack of understanding of how those LIVE feeds make them look to their viewers.
I hear all the time from people attempting to convinces me they are profiting from their Twitter and Facebook feeds. I will admit, many probably are, but are they profiting from posting content on those social sites or are their results coming from the offline efforts related to their online endeavors? I have found the later is more likely since more and more studies are showing large amounts of consumers leaving Twitter and Facebook due to the increase in spammer, self promoters and narcissist broadcasting of worthless services/products. Even the celebrities, who made Twitter and Facebook popular, have tired of the multitude of people attempting to get attention at their expense and are now handing the reins of their social spaces’ accounts over to PR Firms to represent them online.
So the question most people and businesses ask today, after being on Twitter and Facebook for more than ten minutes, …is all this effort really worth it? Who is it who sees these spaces as places to find products and services? Who sees these spaces as places of entertainment? So, who is it using these spaces since more and more people are leaving and why is there some much media saying these sites are growing each day? If they are growing, who is it and are they people or things generating this growth? Nobody can provide validated proof the majority of new accounts for any of the social spaces are created by real people.
There is a growing belief amongst the billions of real people who frequent the internet that the majority of activity, on the so called popular pages and sites, is contrived. Rumors have been many over the recent years on how a business will include in their startup fund enough capital to pay the salaries of dozens of people to open dozens of accounts on Facebook and Twitter and bombard their business’ Facebook Page and Twitter feeds with gushy posts. Of course the sources of those rumors always beg for anonymity to providing the information knowing it would get them fired from those huge gravy trains. However, like everything else generated from the internet, those rumors become the truth to many and that information is spread through the social spaces like a cancer which places the thought in everyone’s mind of apprehension everything posted online as possibly being contrived..or fake.
But back to the mainstream media and their uses of Twitter and Facebook feeds scrolling across the screen during the live program to substantiate a point. Naturally, the news anchors, on the most part, are just reading a script and furnishing a smile for the news they are reporting and have little understanding of anything going on with the way the story they are telling is being presented to the viewers. Granted, recently I have seen a number of the news personalities backing off their constant posting of stuff on Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully this means they are seeing that their efforts are like shouting to an empty room. However, most of them still see and think the fast scrolling posts being streamed on the screen behind them reflects their popularity.
In fact, what their viewers are thinking is…who is posting this stuff on the news station’s Facebook Page? This is just the first of a long list of questions viewers have when they see the news channels’ Twitter or Facebook account scrolling at an unreadable speed. That’s not the way it looks on Facebook!
The bottomline..the majority of viewers are unimpressed and mostly do not believe the news station has that many viewers interested in their program.
Granted, there are millions..maybe even trillions..of persons, places and things, roaming the internet who could possibly have posted a remark to their feed, but are they? Indications are they are not.
So, the main question becomes… Who are these people posting to the national news’ Facebook Page and are they REALLY people who are wanting to be heard…or people being paid to post to the feed so it appears the News’s channels Facebook Page is popular?
Let’s remember..those News Stations are businesses and they make their revenue solely from sponsors. And who just so happens to be displaying advertisement on the Twitter feed and on their Facebook page?…you guest it..their sponsors. This seems to be the reason the mainstream news media is broadcasting the streams on the Live program. It is their attempt to push consumers’ attention to the sponsors sites.
So, are the Feeds being streamed on the TV Screen during live broadcast from real people..maybe? Could they be faked? Absolutely. How will the skeptical online consumers, who have been scammed , spammed and schemed to death, see these feeds? Yes again..most people are not going to believe the remarks posted are legitimate no matter how much anyone tries to substantiate it.
So why are the News Media’s attempting to use these feeds to substantiate a point on an issue? Why are they using them at all? Is it because they have fallen for the same bad advice as many other businesses?
Lots of questions here..do you have any answers? Would be exciting to hear them.
Let me know how I can help.