Facebook Live
In COM 3177 on Thursday, July 27th, we listened to Elizabeth Stephens discuss Facebook Live and its journalism and public relations uses. As someone who has never used Facebook Live, the speech was very informative and answered some of the questions I had.
Elizabeth discussed how Facebook Live was used by students on the campus newspaper to cover protests, school events, and important happenings around campus. She pointed out its potential to be a useful tool for generating both content for social media as well as how it serves as a platform for follower interaction.
As I was listening to the speech, I was considering how I might use Facebook Live to cover one of A Fleeting Farewell's upcoming shows in Johnson City. A snippet of the concert or even a backstage look at the band members preparing for the show would be an excellent way to generate some content for their Facebook as well as to take footage for use on the website I created for them.
She also discussed some of the pitfalls of Facebook Live, which I believe is why I have never really attempted to use it before. The main pitfall of using Facebook Live is that it is raw and unedited footage. For certain journalistic purposes, this kind of representation can truly be effective, but I also recognize that typically, content on social media is carefully and purposefully edited to be “perfect.” In this way, Facebook Live is a unique and exciting way to create content, and I do stand by her statement that it may change the face of journalism in the future.
