Table of Contents
Introduction
This is the modern era mostly dependent on information. So, everyone wants to get information. Previously, people had gotten information from some formal media like newspaper, television etc. But, today it is social media explosion that has created the opportunity to share information at large while it was not thinkable before (MSRA, 2012).
People can share all sorts of information like news, opinions, events etc through Facebook. This can be called the large collaboration of information. According to Marketing & Social Research Association (2012), Social media like Facebook, Badoo and Twitter have ensured the massive participation of its users that they easily can share news, opinions, product reviews as well as discuss on these.
Facebook users post informative things on their timeline like text, image, videos as well as with their friends. They put information on pages and groups of Facebook. That’s why a large audience easily can get information from Facebook. Information flow depends not only on friend relationships, but also on friend-of-friend associations, network affiliations and shared groups (Yardi & Bruckman, 2008).
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Definitions Used
Facebook is the most popular social networks. It founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. People use Facebook to be updated with a large amount of information. It is the name of a website where user can show information about themselves and communicate with groups of friends (Cambridge Dictionary, 2018).
According to Your Dictionary (2018), Facebook is an online social networking websites that offers to create profiles, share information such as photos and quotes, and also to respond to other’s posts.
Newspaper
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2018), Newspaper refers to a paper which is printed and distributed usually daily or weekly. Newspaper contains news, articles of opinion, features, and advertising.
The Acta Diurna was the first newspaper published in ancient Rome. In 1780, James Augustus Hicky published the Bengal Gezzette for Indian sub-continent (Wikipedia, 2018). According to Oxford Dictionary (2018), Newspaper is a printed publication that consists of folded unstapled sheets. It contains news, articles, advertisements, and correspondence.
Television
According to Cambridge Dictionary (2018), Television refers a device that shaped like a box with a screen that receives electrical signals and changes them into moving images and sound. In other words, it is the method of sending images and sound by electrical signals.
John Logie Baird successfully developed television in 1925. Television is the electronic delivery of images and sound from a transmitter to receiver. It has the impact on society (Britannica, 2018).
Statement of the Problem
This study will look for the situations mentioned below.
- Multiple ways of sharing information
Facebook has the multiple paths to share and distribute information. Users easily can post something on their timeline. They also can share things from others timeline. Besides, they can send information as messages to their connected people. We can see that almost every institution from educational to business firm has a Facebook page where it publishes latest updates. All sorts of government, semi-government and private company provide their updates through Facebook pages. There are some groups on Facebook contain a lot of information.
On the other hand, traditional media (newspaper and television) media mostly have only way to distribute information to the audience.
- Getting information rapidly
Previously if an incident happened, we had waited for hours to get the formal information from print and electronic media. Present days, we needn’t to wait for hours as we get information from Facebook. Information once shared on Facebook can be scattered widely in a single minute.
- People easily can discuss on incidents
Facebook has given it’s user to make opinion on any kind of shared things on Facebook. Anything like a controversial thing, an achievement, a loss; people do analyze on that topic. They criticize, propose, or sometimes feel proud with that thing. Various comments from different users make the shared thing more focused. They justify almost every information even check whether it is true or fake. This opportunity has been created by Facebook.
On the other hand, there is no option to make a comment on a news item of newspaper and television. Nowadays, it is seen that almost every newspaper and television has an online version of its own. But, this is not equally competent to Facebook.
No pre-consideration in sharing things
There are some pressures to newspaper and television from pressure group. Besides, these kinds of media are dependent on the income from advertisement of other institutions. So, a pre-consideration is performed before publishing something on newspaper and television.
But, people can share information independently on Facebook. They share information without having any pressure from pressure group. Some information generally hid by traditional media easily published on Facebook. Like newspaper and television, there is no obstacle for any information to be published. And people are fond of these types of news never published on newspaper and television. So, Facebook can be more effective in this arena.
Review of Available Literature
People use Facebook to know information, connect with others, even for business purpose. Espira (2012) stated that most of the African people use social media through mobile phones. They keep touch with personal learning, networking communication, information dissemination, media production, and economic development.
Facebook is a connection to share things with others. When there is freedom in sharing, there is a fact to use that types of media. As Facebook tells about freedom in sharing. So, this is important to use Facebook more and more. Facebook’s goal is to preserve the freedoms of sharing information on Facebook (Newsroom, 2013).
Social media like Facebook has given the opportunity to publicize about product or anything else. In this way, company as well as the user easily can be informed with advertisement. According to Espira (2012), as the fastest social networks, Twitter focuses on advertising that attracts companies and celebrities to be connected with.
According to Research ICT Africa (as cited in MSRA), 31.1% of the Namibian population use internet for social networking. The report showed that if social media disseminate research information then it will capture audience at a wider scope.
Facebook has launched the digital literacy library to provide students learning. In this way, a huge collaboration of information supplies by Facebook (Davis, 2018). So, people (students) might be attractive to Facebook.
Research Objectives
Main Objective
The aim of this study is to look for the status whether Facebook has become the most important source of information for its users or not. This study will show how social media is ahead to serve information than traditional media like newspaper and television.
Specific Objectives
This study will:
- Draw the strong stand how Facebook offers information in a multiple way to its users.
- Look for the ways how people get information rapidly from Facebook.
- Identify the situations how information don’t need any pre-consideration before publication on Facebook.
- Define the importance of Facebook to make a discussion on a particular post.
Research Questions
- Is Facebook ahead to serve information than traditional media?
- How do it works on people mind that Facebook is important than traditional media?
- Does Facebook challenge to traditional media?
Theoretical Framework
Dependency Theory
Dependency theory is a mass communication theory. It was originally proposed by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur in 1976. This theory combines three perspectives like psychology, integration of elements with the system, and media effects by uses and gratification.
Dependency theory connects media, audience and the larger social system. This theory results in that users depend on media to meet specific needs and aims. Here it follows the uses and gratification theory. The Dependency theory shows that people don’t equally dependent on all media. There are two factors cause for media dependency. Firstly, people only depend on a media which provides his needs. Secondly, Social stability is another cause of media dependency.
Nowadays, a lot of people use Facebook. And Facebook provides a lot of information. Facebook users become benefited with information provided by Facebook, that’s why we can say that people may have dependency on Facebook.
Justification of the Research
The amount of Facebook user is increasing day by day. Facebook is a platform that gives opportunity to its users for getting all the information as well as chatting with others.
This research will conduct to look for the status of Facebook whether it has become more important than traditional media or not. If Facebook turns to real dependent thing for users, it is important to measure the actual status. And the fame of Facebook may affect to the popularity of traditional media. After all, any pressure created by Facebook on tradition media will be identified by this study.
Research Methodology
The study will follow two methods for data collection and analysis. These are:
- Content Analysis Method
- Survey
Content Analysis Method: This is one of the most used methods in mass media research. When the task is about analyzing the content of mass media, ‘Content Analysis Method’ is suitable then. This method is so much popular that it was used for both data-collection and data analysis. It covers quantitative proceedings that do the content analyzing efficiently.
Survey: We are familiar with this method. In this process, we make some questionnaires on respected topic. Then take answers from the research population or respondents. Here, we also use this method.
Sampling Technique and Sample Size: The study will use Purposive Sampling technique.
For content analysis, 5 posts of incidents firstly shared on social media before published on newspaper and televison will be taken from Facebook.
For survey, a sample of 20 respondents will be taken who use Facebook.
Research Instruments: A questionnaire titled “Information flow on Facebook that challenges traditional media (newspaper and television)” will be used as the research instrument for survey. The questionnaire will offer all the necessary questions related to the research.
Data analysis method: The proposed study is an empirical study covering both qualitative and quantitative information regarding Information flow on Facebook that challenges traditional media (newspaper and television). A data analysis plan will be developed in line with objectives of the study which will also be followed in data analysis. Data will be analyzed descriptively to ascertain Information flow on Facebook that challenges traditional media (newspaper and television.
However, the study will go through the following steps:
- Familiarization.
- Themes identification.
- Summarizing and interpreting findings to meet the objectives.
- Selection of useful quotes.
- Report writing.
Conclusion
Nowadays, people use Facebook a lot. They are mostly dependable on Facebook. But, for formal information there is tradition and established media like newspaper and television. This study will ascertain the situation how Facebook is ahead to provide information than traditional media. And how it challenges to traditional media.
Bibliography
- Marketing & Social Research Association (MSRA), 2012, The Influence of Social Media on Information Flow,
- From: http://msra.or.ke/documents/conferences/2012/MSRA-Conference-2012-The-Influence-of-Social-Media-on-Information-Flow-by-Eubert-Espira.pdfYardi, Sarita, Bruckman, Amy (2008), Modeling the Flow of Information in a Social Network,
- From: https://yardi.people.si.umich.edu/pubs/Yardi_ModelingInformation08.pdfYour Dictionary, 2018,
- From: http://www.yourdictionary.com/facebookCambridge Dictionary, 2018,
- From: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/facebookWikipedia, 2018,
- From: https://en.wikipedia.orgOxford Dictionary, 2018,
- From: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/newspaperEncyclopaedia Britannica, 2018,
- From: https://www.britannica.com/technology/television-technologyDavis, Antigone (2018), A New Resource for Educators: Digital Literacy Library, 2nd August, 2018
- From: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/08/digitalliteracylibrary/Newsroom , A New Review Policy For Pages and Groups, 28th June, 2013,
- From: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2013/06/a-new-review-policy-for-pages-and-groups/Espira, Eubert (2012), The Influence of Social Media on Information Flow,
- From: http://infotrakresearch.com/downloads/MSRA_presentation.pdfResearch ICT Africa: Namibian Case (as cited in MSRA), Social Media on Information Flow,
- http://msra.or.ke/documents/conferences/2012/MSRA-Conference-2012-The-Influence-of-Social-Media-on-Information-Flow-by-Eubert-Espira.pdf
