Online-only news or no news at all

With shorter attention spans and increased online-only news platforms running wild in today’s society, easy to find, online-only news has become more popular.

Online-only news sites such as Buzzfeed offer a unique twist to gathering information that cannot be found in traditional news. Their colorful website is packed with important news, attention-grabbing headlines, quizzes, videos and more.

Buzzfeed may appear to only share funny games, cute stories or “Which Reality Show Should You Be On” quizzes via Facebook, but the website actually gives pressing updates on current issues such as Ebola, ISIS and same-sex marriage. The website is not only fun and games.

Buzzfeed differs from traditional news outlets by including many pictures, colors, stories different genres of stories varying from news to entertainment. Individuals browsing the site can take a break from hard news to get in a few minutes of shameless enjoyment.

Many of their stories take on a blocked structure and offer bolded headlines and lists, making information extremely easy to obtain and understand. It is an interactive way to stay informed. These qualities are common characteristics of online news because people can quickly browse headlines while on the Internet before moving on to other tasks.

“I like to quickly check Buzzfeed to get information and I’ll maybe take a quiz or two to make me laugh before running off to my next meeting or class.” said sophomore Lauren Miller. “[The website] is easy to navigate and overall an enjoyable way to stay up to date.”

Technology takes students by a storm

In these modern times, people have the ability to filter what they see in the news. Social media has allowed people to customize which stories they see each day. Elon is filled with intelligent students that stay tuned in with the latest news using social media

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed is an upcoming social media site that has completely changed the way people get their news. The primary objective of the site is to mix breaking news stories with articles on celebrities and other entertaining stories. The site tends to appeal most to students.

“I use BuzzFeed as my main source of news,” said freshman Chris Brenning. “Its awesome to read about whatever you want to and its not all heavy news stories about the state of the world.”

Yik Yak

If we’re talking about local news, Yik Yak has provided a way for anyone to post stories within the area anonymously. Though these stories are usually informal and often vulgar, there have been plenty of posts about a significant event around campus.

“Yik Yak is one of the more unconventional social media apps,” said senior Corey Nagel. “Posts are often useless and nonsensical but when something big happens around campus, people post it first to Yik Yak.”

Facebook/Twitter

According to this article published by The Guardian, as of early 2014, Facebook has over 1.23 billion users. Having this many users, one would think that most students would rely on the social media site daily, but this is not the case.

“I used to use Facebook to get my news but recently, I’ve found myself checking Twitter more often,” says senior Alexis Fallon. “Facebook seems a bit irrelevant these days.”

Facebook has been around for many years and has always been an asset to the typical teenager but as new social media sites continue to rise, Facebook has declined.

The decline of Facebook over the years