What are we doing?

Alec Baldwin, “Hamilton,” “Saturday Night Live” and thepresidency. In my years in digital and social media, I’ve neverseen so many headlines about Twitter for the wrong reasons. Ithought Twitter had been pushed to the limit when the Kardashianstook it over.

Now Kim, Kanye and the gang have been pushed far to the side forat least the next four years while we watch Trumptwittergeddon playitself out.

Remember when Facebook saw a massive exodus of the younger crowdbecause their parents and grandparents started nosing around? Well,this is the same and completely opposite situation at the sametime. It’s a hybrid of baby boomers and a nuclear bomb blowing upthe platform with visions of shoving their point down our socialmedia gullet while we’re trying to enjoy the latest hashtag fromComicCon or NCAA football.

Alas, here we are caught in the middle of what is equivalent towatching our parents argue about buying the wrong kind of salsa.Was the salsa that important? Does blame need to be put on whobought habanero salsa instead of mango salsa? No.

Do news headlines need to be taken up with President-electTrump’s latest Twitter irritation about the media or protests orhis steak dinner? To me, this isn’t a yes or no answer – becausethe media has been trained over the decades that anything thePresident or President-elect says is news.

Some find the Trump tweets as a refreshing look inside the mindand hair of our nation’s leader. Some see it as a politicallydangerous way to communicate policy and day-to-day irritations withthe world.

I believe it’s time to re-train the media and those who arecovering the White House, politics, regulatory agencies and evencredit unions.

No, I’m not saying that the media needs to move away from socialmedia posts as news sources. I’m saying to embrace all forms ofnews and information; and from those sources, become more focusedon what’s news for our audiences.

We are not Entertainment Tonight or TMZ. CU Times is anews organization for a very segmented group of a very largefinancial industry. If Trump tweeted something about credit unions,I’m sure that we would cover that for you and what it means, ifanything, for our industry and audiences.

Social media has the power to cause riots, bring aboutuncertainty in the economy as well as make you feel nice when yousee a new cat meme. This is where I think the traditional media isgetting it all wrong when it comes to TwitterTrump. They’re notbeing discerning about what is being posted by our President-elect.It’s an all-or-nothing media approach to this new chapter in ourpresidential (and social media) history.

A recent headline proclaimed that “DonaldTrump is now pop culture’s biggest target,” and if that’s thecase then our news is going to be a mix of Entertainment Tonight,CNN and your local news. I’m calling it “Entertrumpent Today –Traffic and Trump on the 8s.” I fear that the use of presidentialsocial media is going to obliterate us and push us away from thesebeautiful communication tools. And I fear that it’s going to upendwhat journalism should be – which is, the fourth estate. You know,that separate, annoying, question-asking side of the world we livein to help hold elected officials accountable? You know, that. Ibelieve this fourth estate is in a real battle for relevancy fromthe 24-hour news consumptionathon and digital world that we existin today.

What does this new notch in the journalism belt mean for CUTimes? I don’t have that answer yet. I do understand thegravity of our latest news evolution and what it might mean as faras how our readers consume the important information we discover inorder for you to be better informed about what’s happening in thecredit union space.

For me, this is a moment to look forward into what news lookslike in 2017. I believe, in the mainstream media world, thedefinition of news will continue to broaden into spaces normallyleft to BuzzFeed.

At CU Times, the definition of news will remain tightlyfocused on credit unions and this industry as a whole. I think whatmight change is how we deliver you the news and information to yourbrains. But that’s to be revealed at a later time.

Personally, I believe social media won the election. Facebookand Twitter, for sure, has become the news and information darlingfor this election cycle. I ask that you put aside Alex Baldwin,“Hamilton” and even President-elect Trump’s social media outburstsand put those into a junk food news pile to read on theweekend.

As news consumers, we need to get a handle on what we shouldexpect from our traditional news organizations, because our newsuniverse has changed into something I don’t quite recognize from mydays as a radio and television reporter and anchor. And that’sOK.

We need to understand that social media news is here as its ownnews network. Twitter and Facebook are not just platforms to makeyour friends envy where you are on vacation. It’s a legitimateservice. You just need to know how to use it.

Paris Hilton, if you’re still out there, come back! We need younow more than ever.

Michael Ogden is executive editor for CU Times. He can bereached at [email protected].