Social Media and The News
By: Alyssa Rein
What Exactly is Social Media?
According to Oxford Dictionary, social media can be specifically defined as websites and applications that have the ability to create and share content and also participate in social networking. The invention and progress of social media has made a huge difference in how our human beings interact with one another, as well as how we receive information happening in our surroundings. A lot of our lives have become dependent and revolve around social media. This can include work, school, relationships, and even activities. Social media has become a huge resource in how people receive their news and gain information about reports and announcements.
Has Social Media Changed How We Consume News?
With a reported more than 2.4 billion users of social media, it can become obvious that a lot of humans within that big number have become dependent on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and even Snapchat. According to Forbes, it has been documented that “ 50 percent of Internet users surveyed said that they hear about the latest news via social media before ever hearing about it on a news station” (Forbes). However, the possibility of fake news can become possible and extremely common within social media outlets. Fake news is “news, stories or hoaxes created to deliberately misinform or deceive readers” (Webwise). Some examples of fake news in social media can include clickbait, propaganda, satire, and misleading headers. Fake news has become extremely accessible due to social media being free which means anyone and anything, including robots and trolls, can be published or posted. Fake news spread through social media can make it extremely difficult for open reading to be able to know the difference if it is an actual reported news, or if it is a bot spreading false information fast. Fake news in social media has overall extremely changed the way in which humans consume the news, we have the ability to create a false sense of reality, if the news doesn't tell the complete truth or has a biased opinion and display it through their news stories.
New and Popular Forms of Social Media
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat have new and easily accessible forms of broadcasting news. These news outlets within each social media platform have become extremely popular due to the big and broad audience they each have. For example, Snapchat has a “Stories” section on each account that features new outlets such as DailyNews, NBC, and more. Twitter also has a news section in which keeps their users updated on current news as well as features videos of live news reports happening. Social media outlets also have an advantage over traditional news outlets, in which they have the ability to specify and target which news can be shown towards their targeted audience and what they would be interested in seeing most. This pleases their uses and keeps them engaged and using the app. With the millions of people who use social media and how popular and dependent we have become on it, it is understandable how many humans have had social media become their number one news source.
Social Media’s Impact on News
With the popularity of social media news and the large audience it has gained, this has also caused an effect on traditional journalism and media such as newspapers or magazines. Users of social media have reported that they actually prefer using social media outlets as their number one news source rather than the newspaper. This is due to easier accessibility as well as the additional engagement that they provide, including linking news articles, sharing stories, and even commenting. The users feel as though they have a voice, rather than being told the news straight from the author and publisher. This now leads to a decline in traditional media and it is becoming less popular. Although traditional media and spreading the news is everywhere including newspapers, magazines in store, and billboards on people’s left and right, this exposure is not enough compared to social media’s exposure, which is quite literally at our fingertips 24/7.
