CCMobility Nov 2023

Misplaced anxiety over social media glitch

by | Mar 21, 2019 | Opinion

Last Wednesday was a day of anxiety for a lot of people – at least, if what I heard on several radio and television stations was accurate.

Facebook was down and what a vacuum this caused.

OMG, or LOL?

During the hours the social media giant was experiencing technical difficulties I had no idea of the ramifications this lack of wasting one’s time was having on the world. But as the afternoon and evening wore on, the downtime became the lead story in the broadcasting world.

To be clear, our media company uses Facebook, and yes, even I am guilty of accessing it almost daily.

We use it as a tool to inform readers of information that resides in, or on, our main products; first our newspapers and secondly our websites. As a result, I have to go through my own account to get to our company accounts.

We use it because we have to meet you where you live to grab your attention. We want your attention because we want you to be informed about the community in which you live.

At this point in the column I’m not going down any one of the countless rabbit trails about the positive and negative aspects of using social media. Instead I’ll pose a question.

Do you know what kind of vacuum is taking place in America of an even greater magnitude?

How about the loss of 1,800, and counting, newspapers since 2004?

The phrase ‘Stop the press!’ has taken on a whole new meaning for a lot of my colleagues.

Last week the newspaper industry observed Sunshine Week. It’s a time of reflection and awareness focused on you, the reader.

It’s celebrated annually to remind you of the importance of accurate, fair and balanced reporting. It’s meant to remind you that you have a voice, that what you think about the events that shape your world locally, statewide or, nationally matter.

If you’ve read my columns, then you know I’m guilty of creating awareness about the newspaper you are reading or should read.

But let me be clear, the only agenda I have is to keep you informed.

What you missed during a few hours of social media downtime is nothing compared to what millions of people have missed since losing their newspaper.

When a community loses its newspaper it becomes a news desert. It no longer has an unbiased, balanced vehicle to keep it informed about issues that hit home. No independent thought exists about what’s going on at city hall, the school district, the county and beyond.

When a newspaper closes, all socio-economic demographics are affected, both low-income and affluent, suburban and metro.

Now that’s what I call anxiety.

In the advertising and marketing world there’s a term ‘call to action.’ It’s the part in the ad that tells you what to do next.

This is my call to action to you.

If you are reading this and do not subscribe to your local paper, do so. If you have friends who do not subscribe to a local paper, share what you already know and encourage them to spend a few dollars a month on a subscription.

You, your friends, your neighbors, all of you, deserve to have a place where you can have a voice. It’s only with your support that this community newspaper can truly help this community’s voice.

[email protected]

 

By Chad Engbrock • [email protected]

CCMobility Nov 2023

0 Comments

Public Notice - Subscribe

Related News

Counter measures

Counter measures

If you look at what’s missing from this great land, it’s, a barstool on which to sit, good home cookin’, and a counter on which to eat it. The diners of yesterday need a revival. By John Moore For more on this story see the November 23, 2023 print, or...

read more
A thousand words

A thousand words

The late comedian Norm McDonald once joked about how just a century and a half ago, our great grandfather was lucky if he had one photo of himself. With the advent of cell phones, Norm pointed out that a century and a half from now, people would proudly offer to show...

read more
Home sweet home

Home sweet home

The ownership we feel for places we have lived seems absolute. Any house we’ve called home was ours. No one else’s. Even if several others lived in it before or after we did. Such was the case of the house on Beech Street where my family lived in the 60s and early 70s...

read more
Harvesting Texas Traditions

Harvesting Texas Traditions

 As the cool breeze of autumn begins to sweep through the Lone Star State, there’s a particular charm that sets Texas apart during this time of year. Beyond the sprawling landscapes and bustling cities, Texas boasts a remarkable connection between fall...

read more
The bread winner

The bread winner

We called it light bread. Others called it white bread. Regardless of what it was called, in my hometown of Ashdown, Arkansas and most of the rest of the South it was the foundation of the Southern food pyramid. And it was found aplenty at our home on Beech Street....

read more
True Grits: part of a balanced Southern diet

True Grits: part of a balanced Southern diet

Folks who aren’t from the South invariably aren’t familiar with grits. When they come for a visit, they often twist their eyebrows into a John Belushi-type look after they spot them on their breakfast plate. I have kinfolk who live somewhere up close to Canada....

read more
Pay phones, rotary phones: pieces of the past

Pay phones, rotary phones: pieces of the past

The Jetsons got a lot right. Flying cars are now a reality. Zoom meetings. Robot vacuum cleaners. And video phones. One thing that was absent from that cartoon show was something that’s been around for well over 100 years. Something we still use today, and I think...

read more
Take the fall

Take the fall

One of my most vivid memories of fall happened during junior high. I was standing in the end zone prior to the start of a game. I could barely feel my fingers and toes. It was October, but it was unusually cold (Al Gore had yet to invent global warming). My shoulder...

read more
A product of our generation

A product of our generation

If we’re honest, some products aren’t that different from each other. But during the 50s, 60s, and 70s, our moms were extremely loyal to the ones they liked. And advertising had a lot to do with mom’s loyalty, and ours. Growing up in front of a large, RCA console TV...

read more
Public Notice - Subscribe