For years now, journalists, scholars and that old guy shouting from his porch have said: “Social media is the next step for journalism.” But the truth is– maybe to our chagrin– that step has already been taken. Social media journalism is no longer ‘what’s to come’… it’s what’s here.

It’ll come in and overshadow the forms we’re used to now: tv newscasts and maybe even web articles. But, thus is the harsh lifecycle of journalism. Tv is still doing it to radio, with CBS News Radio coming to an end in late May, after nearly 100 years on-air.

I keep trying to remind myself this isn’t a bad thing– no matter how much I may hate change. We can be excited about the innovations and trends to come!

News outlets that publish content purely on socials

Soon enough, we could see the days where news outlets are prioritizing social media, not just using it as another way to share an article or package. Like how CNN came on the map in the 1980s specifically to do tv broadcast news. Unlike NBC or ABC, who had other programming between their newscasts, CNN was a 24-hour news channel. The CNN of the social media age could be right around the corner.

Social media platforms specifically for news

Each news outlet has their own app right now, but in the future we could be looking at one app that features news stories from all outlets, similar to Apple News. But on this app, you could follow certain news outlets so their content is prioritized in your feed. There would be an algorithm that would understand what your interests are and send you articles or videos based on that. There would also be the social aspect to it, with the ability to follow people– your friends or celebrities/influencers– and you could like, comment on and repost stories.

Journalists becoming influencers

Anchors and reporters on local and national levels can become household names after being on air long enough. Who’s to say that can’t happen for journalists on social media? Take someone like Max Foster for example. He’s an anchor and reporter from CNN, but posts a bunch to his personal TikTok account– and has accrued 1.5 Million followers on there. He could become one of our first “news influencers.”

This is a huge plus for independent and freelance journalists too. They can make a name for themselves independently of an outlet. They can link to their own substack or wordpress right from socials– completely skirting the traditional ways of publishing and popularizing stories.

The future isn’t so scary, right? People in the 1950s had the same concerns about television as we do about social media: “Its killing our attention span,” “it’s limiting human connection,” “That’s not real journalism.” But hey, look at us now, we survived the era of tv news, and we will survive the era of social media news.