Learning via social media

How do you know what you know? Name one new thing you learned using a social media site today and explain why you believe it is true. What source did you use to acquire this information? At times, are social media sites reliable for obtaining credible information? 

Lets play 3 truths and a lie. Which story is not true?
1. North Korea declares Seth Rogen and James Franco movie an act of war (O'Neal, 2014)
2. Obama Announces Plan to Forgive Student Loan Debt ("Obama Announces Plan to Forgive All Student Loans," 2013)
3. This Sri Lankan Newspaper Repels Mosquitoes (Luntz, 2014)
4. America's favorite national pastime: Hating soccer (Coulter, 2014)


They all don't sound that true, but the lie is number 2. When I read all of these headlines, I immediately questioned them. Item 1 is an article from the AV club, which is related to the fake news site The Onion. Sadly, North Korea is truly upset by this comedic movie about an attempted assassination of their Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Number 2 is a click-bait headline from the fake news site the Daily Currant. I was very disappointed that well educated people sharing such an obviously false story. But the appeal is obvious, it is something we want to believe. Click bait headlines are a byproduct of advertising money being linked to page views. This incentives "journalists" to puff up headlines to force you to click through. One page that is known for doing this all the time is Upworthy. I am so tired of this that whenever I see a link is from them I will avoid it.
I actually believed number 3 the most, because it is from a source that I generally find to be reputable, a page called I fucking love science. Yes, a page with a swear word in the title is generally more accurate than many others.
And item number 4 is an attention grabber from media seeking Ann Coulter. I was suspicious when I saw the title because I knew it was an attempt at her reviving her brand. But she was indeed saying something completely outlandish to get people to talk about her.

Whenever I question the validity of a story linked from social media, I will click it and look for sources. If I do not see any links, I will be more suspicious. I often consider who shared the story, as Kovach and Rosenstiel pointed out, aggregation is a form of journalism (2010). I am less likely to investigate things shared by my other skeptical friends who post only well vetted articles. Considering how much time we spend per day with social media, there is no reason we can not use it for good. If everyone has such high standards for information that the accept from social media, we can indeed get the truth.

References

Coulter, A. (2014, June 25). America's favorite national pastime: Hating soccer. Retrieved from http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2014-06-25.html
Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (2010). Blur: How to know what's true in the age of information overload. New York: Bloomsbury.
Luntz, S. (2014, June 29). This Sri Lankan newspaper REPELS mosquitoes. Retrieved from http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/sri-lankan-newspaper-repels-mosquitoes
Obama Announces Plan to Forgive All Student Loans. (2013, August 22). Retrieved from http://dailycurrant.com/2013/08/22/obama-announces-plan-to-forgive-all-student-loans/
O'Neal, S. (2014, June 25). North Korea declares Seth Rogen and James Franco movie an act of war. Retrieved from http://www.avclub.com/article/north-korea-declares-seth-rogen-and-james-franco-m-206212
Weigel, D. (2013, March 11). Why does the Daily Currant keep duping journalists? Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/03/daily_currant_satire_the_fake_news_website_keeps_fooling_journalists.html

New Media Perspective

 What forms of new media do you use daily? How has new social media influenced your perspective of events? Are these positive or negative influences?

I have an account on almost every social media site it seems like. I am most active on facebook. My pinterest and twitter accounts are mostly abandoned because of how much I work. I get all of my news through new media. I follow a couple of news sites like NPR and Slate on facebook and will click through from there to any stories with an interesting tag line. I also follow some blogs such as feministing and friendly atheist. New media has changed my filter of information. As Kovach & Rosenstiel point out in Blur, newspapers changed what stories people were exposed to (2010). This is similar the ideas presented by Ethan Zuckerman in his TED talk (2010). Social media gives me the option to see only stories that I want to read. I do not have to be presented with negative opinions of people I like. I can avoid news that challenges my personal views. You can see how this works with a facebook feed. If I have a friend that constantly posts opposing political views, I can remove them. So, as I am currently using them, social media is isolating my perspective of events. It can leave people wrapped up in their own bubble of wrong information. This has really been highlighted by people who are anti-vaccine. They involve themselves in communities that further enforce their position and can drown out everyone saying otherwise. Every person who has strongly held beliefs will demonstrate the same resistance. Mostly, I would say that social media has a negative affect on our perspectives. Ethan Zuckerman showed us that a much better use of social media is possible. Our hashtag campaigns are an example of this. Social media can be a great learning tool and expose us to things outside of our limited scope of the world. But we do need to push for this positive experience to be the norm, because I certainly do not think it is this way now. 

References

Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (2010). Blur: How to know what's true in the age of information overload. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.

Socha, B., & Eber-Schmid, B. (n.d.). What is new media? Retrieved from http://www.newmedia.org/what-is-new-media.html

Zuckerman, E. (2010, July). Listening to global voices. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/ethan_zuckerman