FROM PASSIVE TO ACTIVE: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS INTRANSFORMING AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT VIS-À-VIS NEWSROOMS

Abstract

The paper is aimed at understanding the changing dynamics of the newsrooms with the
availability of the real-time data of the audiences’ choices and preferences. It also explores
how audiences are increasingly becoming an important stakeholder in the process of news
selection. It also analyses the transformation of the ‘passive’ audience of the news media to
the ‘active’ audiences who actively engage with the news content through the options
provided by social networking sites such as share, comment, like, retweet or post. This new
intervention and active engagement by the audience has an impact on the editorial autonomy
in the newsroom. These changes will also impact the gatekeeping idea of journalism with the
editor and senior editors had full autonomy of choosing the content and may also affect the
social responsibility of the media in a democracy. The paper tries to analyse the changing
structure of the Indian newsrooms and how it impacts the media at a macro level.