” The media industry is changing from broadcast mode into social mode and newspapers, radio and television stations are all struggling to keep up. No one knows what is coming next, but everyone is trying to make changes to stay ahead of the curve. On campus, painfully slow bureaucracy ties down these changes.”
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The media industry is changing from broadcast mode into social mode and newspapers, radio and television stations are all struggling to keep up. No one knows what is coming next, but everyone is trying to make changes to stay ahead of the curve. On campus, painfully slow bureaucracy ties down these changes.

As a result, The Buchtelite acts like people still pick up the paper, even though no one really does, ZTV acts like people watch their news, even though no one is even sure what channel it’s on, and Institutional Marketing still faithfully sends out Zipmail every week even though many students never even open it.

As the popular saying goes, If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Facebook puts the job of sharing news into the hands of individuals and many student organizations are abandoning traditional means of communication in favor of setting up Facebook pages. And, as the traditional communication outlets are hesitant to admit, Facebook does the job quite well.

This realization is starting to hit home on campus. The Buchtelite ZTV are now communicating on Facebook. Zipmail is still not on Facebook, but there are at least 34 Facebook pages related to what is going on at The University of Akron. The Buchtelite has compiled the largest available list of these pages, which can be found on The Buchtelite’s page under Favorite Pages.

Whether or not Facebook will last as a long-term way to share the news is yet to be seen, but as the years go on it seems more and more likely that Facebook will only get stronger. Those ahead of the curve using Facebook won’t be ahead of the curve for long, but those that don’t get on board will be left behind.

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