The following passage caught my interest, especially in light of Howard Kurtz’s (a journalist who is present in print, on the Web, and on television) recent foray into Facebook:
“Consider how much more nonverbal information is available about your favorite television personality. Is it any wonder people begin to feel that they know the actors they watch on a weekly basis? In contrast, think of how much social presence you feel when reading your local newspaper. Few of us identify with our local journalists as strongly as we do with radio and television personalities, and according to social presence theory, that is because we lack sufficient cues to prompt us to perceive the reporters as “real” as we do the broadcasters.”
Does the Web allow this sort of strong identification with online journalists who blog? Reporters who extend their presence into “official” blogs and other social spaces such as Facebook give their readers more elements of their personality; consequently, the increased cues allow readers to produce a more “real” image of the journalist.
This phenomenon would seem to predict that news outlets that encourage their reporters to extend their presence to several different outlets may see more devoted readers. (Kurtz has 906 friends on Facebook.)
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