What is 'Newsworthy'? Look at Twitter.

At the beginning of the semester we discussed what components of a narrative constitute how easily we relate to it - or care.

What makes a story newsworthy; appealing to both mass and specific audiences?

According to a definition similar to one we discussed in class, there are 5 factors used to determine newsworthiness:

1. Timing
2. Significance
3. Proximity
4. Prominence
5. Human Interest

Aside from the understanding that we discussed in class, we now must consider the web's effect on these influences and how that affects what our generation of media sees as news.

The internet's speed and increasing accessibility forces more (and new arenas for) competition among media corporations. News has to have impact, get out fast and be understood quickly. This new edge of immediacy cuts out many of the stories that in class we regard as "counter narratives."

Social media has further built this haste into our electronic culture and because of its relation to my final project, I have chosen to focus on Twitter as an example.

Twitter is a prime example of our obsession with short, concise communication (the site currently has 175 million registered users). Twitter can be looked at as a model of what media industries have come to determine as newsworthy.

The site describes itself as "a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations."

This is what we do regularly - we pay attention to what is interesting to us - topics that affect our lives: news near (literally) and dear to our own interests and lives, which may mean news we think others would deem newsworthy.

Twitter is a platform on which a user "tweets," defined by the site as "small bursts of information...140 characters in length," short messages (or "headlines").

These "bursts" of information serve as an example of similar bursts of information dispensed by major media corporations meant to consume our attention, inform and entertain us, whether it be on television, radio or the web. These platforms are more attractive than print because they are created and geared towards easy-access, especially in comprehension, retention and circulation.

Twitter provides for all of these: to-the-point messages make for easy comprehension, short messaging allocates for impact, making for high rates of retention and the ability to "retweet" takes care of, and encourages, circulation.

"What Makes a Story Newsworthy? ." MediaCollege.com. Wavelength Media, 2008. Web. 14 Nov 2010.

"About." Twitter. Twitter, 2010. Web. 14 Nov 2010. .