Economic opportunities to increase news value through network externalities

The concept of Network externalities caught my attention from this week readings. The idea asserts: “the benefit from consuming increases with the number of other people consuming.”

It seems to be a simple notion. But the instance that I believe is most important to increase the relationship between traditional media and social networks is the following: programs could be “affected by the number of other viewing, as part of the enjoyment results from discussing the common experience.”

There is a great opportunity for social TV and for TV news to use this economic concept to create common experiences for its viewers using social networks.

If the value and benefit of a journalistic product increases by discussing around an issue, opportunities to use social networks for second screening could be endlessness during breaking news or political debates.