CC BY
10
DOI: 10.24412/2470-1262-2024-1-111-115 УДК^е): 04.21.51
Inga Shamilishvili, Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University,
Batumi, Georgia
Gvantsa Sabashvili, Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University,
Batumi, Georgia
Шамилишвили Инга,
Батумский государственный университет имени Шота Руставели,
Батуми, Грузия Гванца Сабашвили,
Батумский государственный университет имени Шота Руставели,
Батуми, Грузия
For citation: Shamilishvili Inga, Sabashvili Gvantsa.(2024).
Social Media - Modern Challenges of Monitoring.
Cross-Cultural Studies: Education and Science, Vol. 9, Issue 1, (2024), 111-115 (in USA)
Manuscript received: 15/02/2024 Accepted for publication: 25/03/2024 The authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
CC BY 4.0
SOCIAL MEDIA - MODERN CHALLENGES OF MONITORING
СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ МЕДИА - СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ
МОНИТОРИНГА
"New media is like a megaphone. It amplifies your ability to reach more people."
Mark Batterson
Abstract:
In the digital age, social media has become an integral part of our lives, revolutionizing the way we communicate and disseminate information, and it has become a major force in shaping public opinion. Social media platforms, with their wide reach and interactive features, allow individuals to express their views, engage in meaningful discussions, and influence the wider community.
Modern approaches have allowed us to change the ways of information dissemination, which led to the formation of digital media. Digitization has simplified the acquisition, study, processing, and analysis of information. The above-mentioned processes led to the creation of various social media platforms. Therefore, TV-radio and successful media organizations have created their own digital pages, through which their promotion has become much easier. Social media has led to the rapid and easy dissemination of information, which has blurred the line between objective and subjective approaches. Specifically, the research of the Georgian media space showed us that objective approaches remain a big challenge.
Social media allows us to understand and analyze the real world more. One of its main purposes is to find the target audience. It is through social media platforms that everyone becomes a communicator, who creates a new story by spreading information and allows the public to evaluate the said news.
Social media has somehow blurred the line between freedom of expression and media ethics. The digital space allows each media organization to convey information openly and objectively.
Keywords: social media, monitoring, media ethics, journalism
Аннотация:
В эпоху цифровых технологий социальные сети стали неотъемлемой частью нашей жизни, произведя революцию в способах нашего общения и распространения информации, а также стали основной силой в формировании общественного мнения. Платформы социальных сетей с их широким охватом и интерактивными функциями. Общество позволяет людям выражать свои взгляды, участвовать в содержательных дискуссиях и влиять на более широкое сообщество.
Современные подходы позволили изменить способы распространения информации, что привело к формированию цифровых медиа. Цифровизация упростила получение, изучение, обработку и анализ информации. Вышеупомянутые процессы привели к созданию различных социальных сетей. Поэтому телерадио и удачливые медиаорганизации создали свои цифровые страницы, благодаря которым их продвижение стало намного проще.
Социальные сети привели к быстрому и легкому распространению информации, что стерло грань между объективным и субъективным подходами. В частности, исследование грузинского медиапространства показало нам, что объективные подходы по-прежнему остаются большой проблемой.
Социальные сети позволяют нам лучше понимать и анализировать реальный мир. Одна из его основных целей - найти целевую аудиторию. Именно через платформы социальных сетей каждый человек становится коммуникатором, который создает новую историю, распространяя информацию, и позволяет общественности оценить упомянутые новости.
Социальные сети каким-то образом стерли грань между свободой выражения мнений и этикой СМИ. Цифровое пространство позволяет каждой медиаорганизации передавать информацию открыто и объективно.
Ключевые слова: социальные Медиа, мониторинг, медиа этика, журналистика.
Introduction
Journalism is important for the socialization of society, political and cultural development. The traditional approach of journalism (TV, radio, print media) envisages the dissemination of information through various means of mass communication, which contributes to the formation of public opinion. However, the technological revolution has made it possible to determine the distribution of information in another aspect of communication. These changes made journalism diverse and different. It should be noted here that in the era of the digital industry, many media organizations were formed, which are focused on the speed of information dissemination, although the abundance of information published in it does not determine their quality.
Digital achievements have contributed to the development of digital media, and therefore, it became necessary to constantly monitor and evaluate media organizations, because the easy dissemination of information should be accompanied by objectivity and compliance with the principles of media ethics, because the availability of digital media has made it difficult to determine the target audience. Thus, it is necessary to hire specialists who will have the
opportunity to study different media spaces and evaluate how correct and valid information society has and what effect the mentioned news has on public opinion.
Main part
The 21st century, the evolution of digital media has taken place at a rapid pace. The mentioned direction was supported by various platforms that are of public interest. The emergence of digital media has had a significant impact on the consumer. The modern functional load of the media has made possible a different kind of communication with society. That is why it is important to study the potential of digital media and to consider the possible risks, which imposes more responsibility and ethics on media organizations.
Innovative approaches and especially the formation of social networks have rapidly developed digital media and changed the area of information dissemination. Based on the above, media monitoring is interesting, the main purpose of which is to study, control and predict expected changes in the current information environment. Monitoring has two important aspects - the collection of quantitative data and the determination of the qualitative aspect of the media, which implies informational analysis.
Important criteria in digital media monitoring are accuracy, specificity of information, balance, adherence to ethical norms, visualization, and others. The issue studied showed that society shows great interest in political issues. Due to the diversity of the mentioned spectrum, the information contains many gaps in terms of compliance with journalism standards. The subject matter is often monotonous - there are frequent coincidences of topics.
The graph presented below is an approximate data of how often independent media organizations spread political news through their social pages during the day.
Soc. Media Political information (during the day)
MTAVARI ARKHI 80%
FORMULA 70%
TV IMEDI 60%
TV 25 60%
RUSTAVI 2 50%
According to the research, it was revealed that the main message of the media on Georgian digital platforms, where the coverage of political topics prevails, is related to the propaganda of the ideology of political parties and the formation of hate speech, and not to analysis and evaluation. Mainly informative stories prevail over expected political events, hateful assessments of politicians, biased voters, critical, non-objective assessments of various media organizations, etc. The results of the mentioned monitoring made it clear that the information disseminated by the media organizations does not reveal the real essence of the problem, nor a qualified analysis of any event. Based on the editorial policy of the studied media organizations, almost no attention is focused on the significance and attitude of the event.
The digital media industry has in a way contributed to breaking the standard norms of journalism and in many cases, it appears as a source of information and an evaluator of events, which implies that journalists are non-objective and are influenced by various political groups, which has a negative impact on the protection of journalistic ethical standards. It can be said that both maintaining balance and verifying the source is a problem in the coverage of political issues in Georgia.
Monitoring of the Georgian social media area has shown that TV stories are more balanced and in general closer to professional standards than the news reported on social media.
However, in both cases the source is often less reliable, the journalists speak the same texts, there is often propaganda rather than the dissemination of objective information, and there are cases when the journalist is biased. Social media became a digital tool, which allows society to create a story quickly and to share it with society, to express their own opinions and to influence the target audience. It is crucial to critically evaluate information shared on social media platforms and respect the opposing position, which is important for forming an objective opinion.
Conclusion
Social media monitoring has shown us that each social platform has different methods of spreading information. However, the verification and objectivity of information remains a significant challenge. Control of social media platforms should prevent the spread of misinformation and the reliability of information.
The development of technological processes, digitization has changed reality, the specificity of information perception and the process of analyzing it. Social media has become a kind of moderator, which on the one hand was able to unite different segments of society around specific issues, and on the other hand, divided them. The publicity of the continuous flow of information has made global processes difficult and accessible, which gives each member of society the opportunity to be a direct participant in these processes, to become the creator of content focused on a particular user and to socialize their position.
Digitization of information made it necessary to refresh the standard and ethical norms of journalism. Modernity has determined the interests of media and society. In this era, it has become possible for an ordinary citizen to become the primary source of information and create a new story, which the social platform provides. Therefore, considering media ethics, each social media space should be strictly regulated, which is a prerequisite for quality, short and reliable information.
As much as the digital world has simplified the dissemination of information, it has complicated the observance of ethical norms. Constant research, study, monitoring, and analysis of journalism is a necessary condition for creating a high-quality media product.
References:
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2. MDF; "Media ethics and professional standards''. OPEN SOCIETY GEORGIA FOUNDATION: 2013;
3. "Independent Association of Journalists of Georgia'': 2000;
4. "Code of Conduct of the Charter of Journalistic Ethics of Georgia'': 2017; https://www.qartia.ge/ka/dokumentebi/article/36725-saqarthvelos-zhurnalisturi-ethikis-qartiis-qcevis-kodeqsi
5. "TheEvoluti onoftheMedi a"https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-
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Information about the Authors:
Shamilishvili Inga (Batumi, Georgia) - Candidate of Philological Sciences; PhD; Professor at the Department of Georgian Philology at Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University, Batumi (Georgia); a participant of several grant projects, including Grant project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria 'Sharing Bulgarian experience for the Capacity building of Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University ".
USAID- Basic Education Program; U.S Embassy Democracy Commission Small Grant Program and Journalism research Center project 'Learn Journalism Online; Grant agreement of the University of Ruse for Erasmus+ staff mobility for teaching between Program and Partner Countries; Has completed an internship in Media Education Program funded by the U.S. Department of State, administered by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy - in Chicago, USA; has participated in 20 international conferences and published 20 research papers.E-mail: inga_shamilishvili@bsu.edu.ge
Gvantsa Sabashvili (Batumi, Georgia)-PHD of Philology. Assistant Professor ofjournalism; Faculty of Humanities.
Graduated of Program MEP The American Academy for International Multimedia Journalism Education Program Strengthening process of studying of Journalism in Regional Universities- US Department of State, US Embassy in Tbilisi;2023
Teaching experience at BSU - 12 years. E-mail: gvanca.sabashvili@bsu.edu.ge
Acknowledgments: I thank colleagues for valuable advice in the process of this research and editing the article and I thank the reviewers for their valuable suggestions. Author's contribution: The work is solely that of the author.
