Relationship Status: It's Complicated. News Organizations and Social Media Platforms in Heavily Disrupted Media Environments

Abstract

The rise of social media platforms has profoundly changed the global media environment. Based on interviews with media professionals handling the social media strategy of Greek news organizations, this study analyzes the way news publishers in disrupted media environments experience their relationship with powerful platforms. Drawing on previous research that records news publishers’ concerns and critiques regarding the various implications of their asymmetrical relationship with platforms, we find that Greek news media adopt a different approach. First, we find that many of our interviewees lack critical considerations towards the power of platforms over news distribution and instead focus on positive considerations stemming from the news media organization—platform relationship. Second, we record a feeling of anxiety towards the possibility of messing up this relationship and a widespread fear about the impact that this could have on their traffic. Third, we find that the majority of news organizations do not have a clear social media strategy, but rather they are relying on their own theories about how social media algorithms work. Ultimately, we argue that disrupted media environments affect news organizations’ ability to be critical of platforms and thus hinder efforts to negotiate their own social media presence.