I often say, though at some risk of offending my colleagues, that journalism exists to avoid crowds from gathering. By that I mean, sure, we inform people so that they may act as better citizens and so on, but really that's just the noble icing on the cake. Reports on fires and car crashes and murders don't really make you a better citizen, except maybe in some distant, second-hand way. Those stories just tell you about things that happened that we, as a people, have decided are interesting. If there were no journalists, we would gather at the scene, asking others what's going on. Hence, journalism exists to avoid crowds from gathering.
So, there's this thought that I saw from my corporate web people on how to improve response in posts using pictures on social media:
Less is often more when it comes to referral on image posts.
It is critical to not give away the entire story in an image post on
Facebook. You are already at a disadvantage because you are relying on a
text hyperlink over a card to click on, but effective tease language
can play a big role in using the expanded reach of the image post to net
a higher referral.
Which leads one to ask: What is the purpose of being a journalistic (not to be confused with media or internet) outlet? If we're there to tell people what's happening, what's with this game of hide and seek? Aren't we supposed to get the information out there as quickly and efficiently as possible? Isn't every journalist taught the inverted pyramid writing style first thing, where you get the important information at the very top, working your way down into secondary details later?
Okay, so I'm being hypercritical. Journalism is not just a calling, but a business, and one click isn't going to kill the reader to get the news. But this is something to keep in mind. It's by little steps that we make our way to Hell.
