Conventional and Dialogical Uses of Social Media in the Newsroom: How Journalists Use Facebook and Twitter, and Why

• In Event: Social Media and Politics

Abstract

Through a survey of 206 online news editors in the United States, this study found that social media are being used in the newsroom more often for conventional purposes, such as promoting a story and directing traffic to the website, than for dialogical purposes, such as monitoring and interacting with the audience. Organizational level variables were found to be the most influential in terms of predicting both conventional and dialogical patterns of Twitter and Facebook. Specifically, online news editors who work within organizations oriented to increasing traffic were most likely to engage in both conventional and dialogical uses of Twitter and Facebook.

Author

• Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University