I think that social media is a great addition to our lives and it has improved and increased the spread of information; however, it also has some negative aspects. Social media brought significant changes into the ways that we communicate and retrieve information. Such media is very popular and people benefit from it as it is convenient to use and easily available to everyone. The most significant benefit of using social media is that it is an accessible and inexpensive source of communication that enables unrestricted flow and exchange of information. It allows people to communicate regardless of their global position and to access information and news from the entire world. We no longer have to wait for the evening news because we can now access information or news much quicker via internet.
Despite the fact that social media enables a quick access to different types of information, it is essential to remember that not all information comes from a credible and a reliable source. Information retrieved from social media stems from many different and sometimes unverified sources: therefore, readers need to judge and assess the quality and credibility of the news on a case by case basis, being able to differentiate between facts, opinions, and speculations. In many cases general people can access social media websites and add own comments and information that are simply based on opinions and individual experiences. As readers we must be fully aware that social media can be both accurate and misleading in information provided.
With the increase of available information through social media I believe that the quality of information may have increased as readers have more access to various sources and can better determine the validity of the news and information reported. This may also allow readers to form better decisions in regards to the quality and credibility of information posted. If approached with caution and awareness I do believe that readers now have access to more quality based information.
I very much agree with your comment where you point out that we now have access to more sources and that it really is up to us to validate the information in order to realize and catch the more credible information over the other sources that aren't so reliable. I had a similar viewpoint in my post, but I think after reading several posts it seems that the biggest question or concern about how the quality of news and information has increased is what's the best way to go about finding the more reliable sources over others that aren't? In the end it comes down to your own discretion in terms of how you approach it. The key seems to be to take precaution and not take everything as is, but rather to question it in order to better understand something as reliable. I find that when I share information, I generally do it because I've approved it in my opinion and want to get feedback from others or my friends who's opinion I respect. When you start seeing how so many people respect or accept a certain source, it tends to drive its credibility upward and that's one way of how we filter our news through social media.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your blog posting. In addition, I am glad you were able to focus not only on the negative side of news provided by social media, but the positives as well. I too am a firm believer that social media allows for a significant increase in the amount of information but may or may not compromise the quality of the information it releases. You did bring up a very valid point though, it is difficult for most people to determine whether or not the information they received is from a credible source. However, further global education in regards to this would be a great benefit to society to avoid misleading information.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with your thoughts. I think that social media and citizen journalists have made it much easier for us to access the news, no matter where we are in the world. We no longer have to wait for the newspaper to be delivered in the morning, or for the evening news to fill us in on what's going on in the world. I have the Reuters app on my phone which updates constantly, so I'm always informed of important events going on in the world. It can be difficult though to determine which sources are reliable and credible when recieving information from a 'faceless' website. I also agree that the quality of news has improved because of social media, as it is so simple to 'Google' or 'Wikipedia' anything that you read, or see on the news to verify the information you're recieving. I think that TV news stations and newspapers need to change the way we recieve their information in order to keep up with the social media revolution.
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