Change is natural.
As we continue to evolve as being, so does technology and communication.
Technology's adaptation in communication has helped folks communicate on various platforms. In a time when communication was done via pen and paper, written text has become digitized for purposes of communication beyond the norm. Text messaging is like a second language for tech savvy folks; with the creation of text slangs or abbreviations, a normal conversation can be carried out with a few swipes on a mobile keyboard. Slangs such as "BRB" or "TTYL" are easily comprehensible for us because we've adapted to this new form of communication.
As our culture changes to these new norms from technology, so does the communication industry.
Audiences these days are looking for more sophisticated and specific demands in news delivery; according to Janet Kolodzy (2013), this new demand is causing an explosion in the communications industry – the old fashion way of news delivery isn't going to cut it anymore. In order to keep up with the change writers for news, PR and such had to adapt to these technological and communication changes, and develop a cross-media way of thinking.
Who needs a newspaper delivered to your door, when we can use our high tech devices and search for the same story via Internet? As a result, traditional news delivery methods such as print were slowly declining in popularity. In a study by C. Elizabeth Everett (2011), newspaper were the norm in communications and were able to thrive on profits from ads in order to continue. As soon as technological boom happened, newspapers saw a decline in sales. If they wanted to keep afloat, they had to make changes in order to keep up with its competition (Everett, 2011, 102). Viral advertising was seen as the next big business shift, hence, by going digital with the news they could still profit as long as they met up with people's demands and delivered timely. Over the course of years as newsprint shifted towards the web, advertisers noticed the digital trend was booming with audiences; it was more effective and the investments were much grander in the long-run compared to traditional print (Everett, 2011, 103).
The Internet also gave news a chance to be more interactive with their audience. Social media could be used to directly communicate with readers on a personal level. This shift meant audiences could actively partake in the conversation and how they receive the news – in cases like today you can find news stations post their stories via Facebook as shown above. The writing is professional in the story, but even the Facebook post is audience-centric, as it is given emojis and a clear task to audiences to be more personal on their level. As a result, the audience feels as though their thoughts matter and well appreciated.
Resources
Everett, C.E. (2011). Transformation of Newspapers in the Technology Era. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, vol 2 (2), 102-113. Retrieved at https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/communications/journal/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2017/06/09EverettEJFall11.pdf
Kolodzy, J. (2013). Practicing Convergence Journalism: An Introduction to Cross-Media Stroytelling. New York, NY: Routledge.
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