Comparative Study of Social Media Functions at IRIB and BBC Persian TV Channel

Today social media are considered one of the important and effective pillars in social developments. Social media, which are among modern media, have shown their high capacity at sensitive political-social junctures in comparison with the restrictions of diffusion coefficient of the traditional media. Numerous research studies have been carried out in this respect. The studies have shown that social media are the cradle of many developments in the civil society and have created a close relationship between the public sphere and the government body. The importance of the role played by the mass media executives in new social media was a subject of a Reuters report entitled “Journalism in the Age of Social Media” released in 2010. The report referred to the growth of a phenomenon called “citizen journalism” and its effects on traditional media and laid emphasis on the necessity of survival and dynamism of reporters in social media (Journalism in the Age of Social Media, 2010). By reviewing convergence of the national medium (IRIB) and the BBC Persian TV channel with social media networking, Facebook, this paper intends to determine the extent of deployment by the IRIB and BBC Persian TV executives of the capacities of this social network in agenda setting and leading the public opinion. Therefore, the extent of activities of popular presenters of IRIB and BBC Persian channel were investigated during May 7-17, 2013, simultaneous with the registration of candidates in Iran’s presidential elections. The extent of effectiveness of presenters’ activities has been analyzed based on indexes such as the amount of texts published in connection with the presidential elections and candidates and the feedback of the audience. The findings of the research indicate that presenters of BBC Persian Channel have used the opportunities provided by social media to enlighten the public opinion with an eye-catching difference compared to IRIB presenters.