We also hope to make you laugh from time to time, whether we are jumping on a TikTok trend or creating clever content to reflect this wild time we live in — or to offer some reprieve from it.
As users and other news outlets flee X following updates to its terms of service that caused widespread user concern, Bluesky saw an influx of millions of users. We are excited to announce that readers can now find us on Bluesky.
We are also now on Reddit, a platform hungry for discussion about local topics. We have been able to chime in with our hyper-specific knowledge about the food, music, arts and culture scenes while providing space for users to discuss the hard news about our city’s happenings.
Journalism’s Digital Footprint
It’s no secret: Legacy news must adapt to survive. Like birds migrating in the winter, we eagerly seek new territory well suited to our needs, desires and talents. One of the most profound migrations of legacy news in our lifetime has been from the physical to the digital.The Observer has been in print since 1980, and online since the late '90s. In fact, we were among the first alt-weeklies to step into the uncharted territory of the internet. With the internet came social media, which we also eagerly embraced.
One small step for man, one giant leap for a newspaper testing out fresh legs in a new medium, not unlike those of a newborn giraffe.
As time went on, it became clear that the internet was becoming the new platform for public discourse. Our pilgrimage through this ever-changing landscape is continuous.
Since 2020, as the U.S. has seen a rise in the number of people who often use social media for news consumption, news sites have seen a drop in frequent consumption, according to a study conducted by Pew Research Center. Unsurprisingly, the study supports the fact that print has been on a steady decline.
Dallas Observer’s Social Media Editor
To stay with the times (or catching up with them), the Observer hired its first social media editor since the pandemic –– me. I took on this role in 2023, and I do not take it lightly.I have a master's degree in journalism from the Mayborn School of Journalism at UNT. My time there was spent researching the impact of social media on news content paired with the methods through which news most successfully reaches and resonates with consumers.
In short, I focused much of my energy learning about consumer behavior and how it impacts the ways in which news publications ought to approach the dissemination of information. I am passionate about First Amendment rights, and that includes your right to discuss what is happening in Dallas. But first, the content must push its way through the almighty algorithm to reach you.
It’s important to provide ample space and opportunity for public discourse about the goings on in our city. Because of that, in the past year alone we have expanded our social media presence from Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn to include Threads, TikTok and YouTube.
Yeah, I’m pretty busy.
As we continue our journey to offer up news about Dallas across the digital landscape, we hope that you find it worthwhile to seek us out on the platforms you prefer to use. We hope that our presence on these platforms offers more opportunity for you to enjoy our coverage and engage with us (and we hope to engage with you).
We are working diligently to make sure that you can find us wherever you are, always at no cost.
Have feedback for us about our social media presence or ideas about what content you’d like to see from us? My inbox (and DMs) are always open. Email me at [email protected].
