Constant Change and Social Media
Printed editions of newspapers or magazines do not have enough “constant change” for people to read them as long as previous generations did. With the advent of social media, people are now used to scrolling through feeds to learn about current events and receiving automatic updates about the latest events happening in the world. Social media allows for rapid change, as people can constantly scroll and find new stories to read, while older stories can be updated more easily than they can in printed newspapers. Printed editions do not have that capacity for constant change that social media has. This is one obstacle that printed editions face in comparison to social media.
Printed editions can be too long for people to want to read. Social media posts are short and cover the news using the most exciting details, while printed editions require more details to fill the page sizes they have traditionally used. Therefore, some dull details might bore an audience that is used to exciting social media posts covering the same news as the printed edition. Additionally, newspapers may have had word-count requirements to meet, while social media does not have that restriction, at least not to the same degree that a printed newspaper staff might have had.
Printed editions of newspapers take time to edit, distribute, and print. Social media posts do require research for people to take interest in them, but consumers and users can otherwise add new posts fairly quickly. In fact, the push of a button and some research are all it takes for news to enter the social media scene through consumers reposting trending stories. This allows current events to reach audiences much more quickly than a printed edition could. Printed editions take comparatively more time and might catch up to current events only after social media has already jumped on those events.
Printed editions of newspapers and magazines may have had to make their content shorter and more exciting in order to catch the attention of audiences who expect from printed news the same style of reporting they see on social media. Physical copies may have had to cut down on production and release far fewer copies as a result of financial pressure and changing customer expectations.
Note that professional news websites still have a system of checks and balances. They have editors to proofread content, and stories cannot simply be posted with the click of a button.
Downsizing and Turnaround Times
Some newspapers may be pressured to switch to online-only formats or place more focus on their website versions, even switching altogether to online-only versions after sales of printed copies are lower than expected—lower than what is required for the office to thrive and pay its rent, employees, utilities, and so on. They probably cannot meet the demand for constant change with print, so they close down production centers for their printed magazines and newspapers. Even The Onion changed to an online-only format.
Additionally, some employees might be laid off as a result of news companies switching to online-only formats because they are needed for the print version of the newspaper but are not needed for its online version. Offices might downsize to accommodate the new online-only formats.
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