Servant of two masters: How social media editors balance between mass media logic and social media logic

Abstract

Social media editors were initially appointed by media organizations which aimed to extend their reach and to establish their presence in social media. These editors were hired to create content on behalf of mass media organizations, but with social media in mind. As such, they need constantly to reconcile mass media logic and social media logic. Relying on the frameworks of ‘social media logic’ and ‘network media logic’, this study focuses on the role of social media editors as the arena in which both logics fuse to create a hybrid media system. Twenty in-depth interviews with social media editors, representing a large proportion of the Israeli media, were carried out. Our findings underscore how editors’ every day routines are a result of negotiation between logics, creating hybrid media organizations.