Ask some traditional journalists and they still consider The Huffington Post as a bunch of bloggers!!! There are journalists who think that in due time the social news is going to die, some others think that it is something to watch and observe before embracing, and finally some have already adopted social media and are considered to be the thought leaders in their networks.

No one can truly predict the the future (unless you are a soothsayer), but journalists are catching on the social media bandwagon. Here are few of social media news sites:

TheHuffingtonPost, Shoutwire, Newsvine, Newscloud, Mashable, Plime,NowPublic, Fark etc. The list is growing so this gives some idea where the future is heading.

NPR - I want to mention NPR separately as they have still very high presence in traditional media but also has a very robust social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Streaming NPR Radio, Community & Mobile. Thsi shows that you don’t have to purely move to social media for all the news.

Society of Professional Journalists – The largest professional journalist organization in the U.S. also gave a list of top 20 journalist to follow based on their social media presence and innovative approach. Here is the quote from their site:

In lieu of the regular “10” interview, this month we’re featuring questions with a bunch of cool journalists and innovators. Call it the “follow list,” or something like that. These are people in the industry we think have great ideas and hold great potential. In short, you should pay attention to them — not only on Twitter, but in the wider industry. See what they do. Interact with them. Learn. Engage.

SPJ has even created a list on Twitter of these journalists.

Lastly, Associated Press Stylebook 2010 added social media guidelines giving the final stamp that social media news is here to stay. The new Social Media Guidelines section includes information and policies on using tools like Facebook and Twitter, how journalists can apply them to their work and how to verify sources found through them. Also included are 42 separate entries on such terms as app, blogs, click-throughs, friend and unfriend, metadata, RSS, search engine optimization, smart phone, trending, widget and wiki.

The AP said the change from “Web site” to “website” was based on increasingly common usage both in print and online. The tradigital journalist is the future of journalism. Thoughts??

The history of social media started in 1950 by using the technique of Phone phreaking, or the rogue exploration of the telephone network.

Television images in motion were first sketched in 1878 after the invention of telephone.

Newspapers have the longest history.

The first printed forerunners of the newspaper in Europe appeared in Germany in the late 1400′s.

In America the first newspaper appeared in Boston in 1690,(under the title Publick Occurrence).

Since appearance of social media there is a constant battle between social and traditional media? Who is going to win?

Both sides has their advantages  and strengths but also disadvantages and weaknesses.

Let’s analyse them.

Social media are faster. But that they completely ignore old traditional marketing methods.

Traditional media have ability to report on the stories which cannot be covered by social media, they are better organized and technically equiped. People trust them more.

The weakness of traditional media is their unwillingness to change and their inflexibility.

Are the strengths ( the quickness above all) of social media enough to replace traditional media?

Not necessarily, if traditional media find a way to adapt.

It means that this conflict doesn’t have to end with the winner and defeated, but in collaboration of both sides.

Traditional and social media can find a way of collaboration and implement each other, e.g social media can use links to draw the attention to some newspaper articles in traditional media, traditional media can use positive comments about  it’s articles in blogs in marketing campaigns or close the deals through social media.

So, to answer the question from the title?

Despite appearance of social media, people still read newspapers and watch TV, they haven’ completely replaced them with social media. Therefore, we can say that social media hasn’t killed the traditional media yet.

How will the conflict end? With the victory for one of the sides or with some way of collaboration? Time will tell.