The rapid growth of social media in the last five years is indicative of its importance and its integration into the daily lives of many people in Sri Lanka. In parallel with this, there has also been considerable growth in digital journalism through the online medium. But the reachability of social media is much higher compared to the traditional online media. As a result, social media is converted into online news media, revolutionizing the digital journalism. This study explores the new trend in digital journalism with the presence of social media and carries out empirical research to understand the effectiveness of social media as news media.

New incredible developments in the Internet and its associated technologies are opening great opportunities for development in many low-income countries. As a result, developing countries are immediately adapting to new technologies to increase Internet access in many areas, despite a huge number of barriers that stand in the way. Social media have made tremendous impact on online computing by providing users with opportunities to connect with others and generate enormous content on a daily basis. The enormous user participation in these social media is reflected in the countless number of updates, opinions, news, comments and reviews being constantly posted and discussed on social websites.

Considering the number of users and reachability, the online news media have overtaken the traditional media such as newspapers and televisions. While many online media remain important in news industry, online media primarily facilitate one-way news dissemination. Social media are conducive to timely, interactive communication and foster dialogue and content exchange among message consumers and creators (Taylor and Perry, 2005; Bortree and Seltzer, 2009; and Wright and Hinson, 2009).As stated above, the social media can create opportunities for two-way interaction in between news providers and individuals in a timely manner.

Information Technology Journal, Social media, News media, Empirical research, Digital journalism, Social Media, New Trend, Sri Lankan Digital Journalism.