![](https://blog.gdeltproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018-forbes-moving-beyond-social-media-towards-news-big-data-cloud-era-1064x410.png)
Today we typically equate "big data" and "social media" but that is largely because of social data's widespread machine-friendly availability, yet this over reliance has constrained the questions we can ask about human society. With a bit of creativity, news media can become truly "big data."