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I feel like media companies (like recode, cnn) are really going after social tech companies (like twitter, facebook) right now.

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Given what social media companies have done to their businesses, are you surprised? A larger and larger amount of the population gets their news from social networking sites rather than media organisations nowadays. Stuff like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the biggest 'competitors' the likes of CNN have nowadays.

I'm not really surprised, but I also don't really understand the comparison. Facebook/Twitter distribute news, they don't create it.

Not directly. But their users create and post news, and for a decent percentage of the population, said users are more reliable/better quality than mainstream media organisations. This is especially true with specialist accounts on Twitter, which can be better news sources than proper websites.

So in the same way that gaming sites are now often losing to YouTube channels and Twitch streamers as a source of news/reviews/opinions, the media is losing to individuals sharing their stories online.

Most truth that makes someone uncomfortable comes to light because someone with an inherent bias shone a spotlight on it.

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