Before this morning, I couldn't imagine ever using the hashtag #beliebe. But here I am, blogging about Justin Bieber's arrest for a class at UNC. If it's still possible you haven't heard about it, I'll provide a summary of the situation. Around 4:00 AM Thursday morning, Justin Bieber was pulled over by Miami Beach police and arrested for drunk driving and resisting arrest. The fact the 19-year-old was arrested may come as little surprise to many, but the way people found out was especially interesting and indicates a trend in how the world now gathers (and analyzes) information.
Since most Americans weren't awake at this hour, they likely discovered what happened via social media this morning. I follow several news organizations on Twitter, most of which were littered with stories regarding Justin Bieber's illegal activities. Still, this isn't how I found out about the incident and I would argue that many people are in the same boat.
At approximately 10:52 AM, I logged into Twitter before class began at 11:00 AM. This was the first photo that popped up on my feed:
Justin Bieber's face photo-shopped onto a poster for "Orange is the New Black," a popular Netflix series, isn't much, but it was enough to tell me something had happened. So, I scrolled down my feed. Two tweets later, this photo:
These two photos are in no way considered "newsworthy" content. But it was information, and I was receiving it. So I scrolled, and then I saw it. A friend had retweeted a tweet from the Twitter handle @BiebersDUI.
And just like that, I found out Justin Bieber was arrested. Of course, I didn't know all the details (that I would then frantically google) but I knew enough without seeing any official information. The story I saw was told through user-generated content on a popular social media website, and didn't involve paparazzi or news organizations.
Kevin Fallon, a writer for The Daily Beast said, "Typically a star’s journey to rock bottom plays out for all of us years later in a 20/20 segment or E! True Hollywood Story pieced together after the fact. But now we’re watching every gritty detail of the episode unfold in real time."
Not only that, but users are the ones telling the story. After all, I heard about his arrest through the bio of a parody Twitter handle. If that's not revolutionary (and weird), I don't know what is. As for the future of information content, I don't see user-generated content disappearing in the next few years. In fact, it will likely become even more popular; we as users like to share things we find interesting, and Bieber's arrest is a prime example of that. If you're wondering about the future of mass communication and if user-generated content will be the "next big thing," I've only got one thing to say.
You better #beliebe it.