Light from a LAMP

By Liz Pritchard

—Albuquerque, NM

While there are many social media platforms with the intention of sharing information, there are some whose functions are more beneficial to journalists. Each platform offers different features that allow journalists to share information to their audiences or gather information for a potential story. In the past year, there was an emergence of a new platform called Threads from Meta. Almost identical to the platform X, Threads is making its way to the forefront as a place for journalism to thrive. Out of all the platforms, there are three that cater more to journalist expression and freedom; Threads, Instagram and Tiktok. All of these vary in format, but each has shown to be useful tools for journalists to make their own content, connect with their audience and keep their viewers updated on news coming into the public sphere. All of these platforms emerged at different times in popular culture, so there’s been a shift in the way that people interact with them. What might’ve started as a fun, social platform has turned into a source of information where many receive their news. 

Threads launched in July 2023 as an extension of Instagram. When it launched, there was a clear comparison to long-time platform X, as Threads appears to replicate its format. As X was rebranding itself with its new owner, this app came out to reach the people who weren’t fans looking for a new medium to share their thoughts. This platform offers the ability to share text posts, photos, videos, voice notes, and links. It has a scrolling feed where the user can view posts made by friends and find content similar to the posts previously liked. Users are able to share content of their choosing with the ability to reach an audience on global scale.

Threads is interesting because it is systemically connected to the platform Instagram as a sister platform. Instagram has been around for years, predominantly as a photo-sharing app. Since its inception, Instagram has grown to be a site that allows journalists to share visual content and media to their audience. Threads is a predominantly text-based platform, so it feels like the other half of the coin. Since Threads is only a year old, it is still in its early stages of development and users are figuring out where it fits into the social network ecosystem. Anyone can use this app for free to post their thoughts and information. This is ideal for journalism meaning any person with internet access can find their content. Allowing all people to access the internet is very important for journalism since the digital world is where the majority of information is viewed. With Threads being public, there is a sense of inclusion with the app. In a report from BusinessOfApps.com, it revealed that men are the main users of the app and people above the age of 24 make up 63% of the current users on the platform. The platform is aimed towards a younger audience because Instagram has frequently geared its platform towards this demographic.

There are a few flaws with this combined platform. To use Threads, a user must have an account with Instagram. Unlike other social media sites, Threads does not allow someone to sign up on their own. A Threads account must be connected to an Instagram account and due to this conjunction, a Threads account cannot be deleted without deleting the entire Instagram account. Another issue with this platform which directly affects the journalist community is that currently there is no feature to label content as AI-generated or disinformation. With the increase of the false information circulating, other social media platforms have begun to include a label on content that is falsely reported and on content that has been created by AI. These labels help by accurately identifying content that has the potential to be harmful. Threads however does not show this on their platform, so as of right now, disinformation can circulate without the system flagging it as such. 

Threads does seem to be in competition with X, but has some work to do to please their audience. There is a lot of potential for this site to become a media platform for journalists to gather information and share their content. For now, it is a good app for connecting with viewers and increasing awareness for one’s brand. With all the social media apps that exist on the market, there are three that have increased the visibility of journalists and their content. Threads is still fairly new, so many journalists and news organizations treat it in the same manner as X and repost their content from other sites. However, this places journalists at an advantage to explore the platform and determine what its use could be. X has been an active source of gathering and sharing information for years, but many have complained that the site is losing traction since the rebrand and journalism does not have the best chance to thrive. Threads gives the opportunity to recreate the social system of information sharing that might be lost on other platforms and journalists can participate in the structure of building that. The second social media platform is Instagram. Being around for more than 10 years, the public has seen Instagram shape into a powerhouse for sharing content. The app is more than just for sharing pictures. Journalists can use this site to create their own content and upload it for a wide range of people to discover. Pictures, videos and graphics have already been seen to do very well and the majority of users are in a younger age group, so visual content is a preferred medium for most. This means journalists who work with visual media have a designated channel to post their work. The last is TikTok. After going through a couple rebrands, this video sharing app has exploded into a prominent source of news. Due to the fact that users can post their content in real time, sharing their views and stories on a subject has changed the way journalists interact with their audience. A news channel can post clips from their stories in case it was missed elsewhere or interact live with their audience through streaming. TikTok allows real people to report on their own stories and news sources can use that to build onto theirs. The platform has found its place as a dominant force in social networking and journalists can benefit from this by reaching new and larger demographics.

Follow her journalism at lightfromalamp.com.