Everything that I know
up to this point in my life, I’ve learned through several different avenues. At
a very young age (even before I was able to read or write), I learned mainly through
observation. My knowledge base was built by observing my environment
first-hand. As I grew up (but before I was able to read on my own), I mainly
obtained information through word of mouth. What I knew to be true, I had heard
from my parents, siblings, teachers, and friends. When I became old enough to
seek out information on my own, I learned through books, newspapers, magazines,
and many new media sources. We are “consum-nivores”
because we thrive of off consuming information from these many new media
channels. Once we consume it, we feel the need to regurgitate the story not
just to one person, but to many people through channels like social media (NPR
2010).
People from all over
the world use social media sites every second of every day. While social media
sites are always buzzing with the latest top story, we must remember that everything
we hear is not always 100% true. Anyone has the right to post something on
Facebook, real or fake.
One thing that I learned
from Facebook today is that April is National Poetry Month. Because this
information is very light-hearted and doesn’t affect my life much, I believe it
to be true. Generally, I use a second (if not, third) source of information to
verify the information I come across on Facebook. Because this fact is
harmless, I didn’t’ feel the need to confirm it. On certain occasions, social
media sites are a reliable source of information. On the other hand, if I read
on Facebook that we were supposed to get a huge storm next week, I would check
the weather channel. Facebook is a public site and many people post even their
briefest whims. These posts are then left open for interpretation by users. By
the time information hits your newsfeed, it may have been twisted and
manipulated several times.
Reference
NPR ombudsman / new
media [Interview by A. Shepard & N. Bilton]. (2010, September 15).
Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://wosu.org/2012/allsides/npr-ombudsman-new-media/
You make a great point, Cathy. Because we do consume information and want to repeat it, the information that is often posted on Facebook can be twisted or at the very least, incomplete (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010). Even with that fact in mind, do you think that information posted on Facebook can be credible? That is a difficult question because so many different types of information are posted on Facebook, but what I really think that depends on is who is posting that information (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010). We keep discussing if social media is credible, but should the question really be are the people that are posting on social media posting about credible information (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010)? It is people that use social media so I think that it can be credible if those people are willing to post credible information (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010). What do you think?
ReplyDeleteReference:
Kovach, B. & Rosenstiel, T. (2010). Blur: How to know what’s true in the age of information overload. New York: Bloomsbury, USA.
This is a great blog for the topic of social media’s truths. Many times social media can be used for good however, it can also be used for evil intent. Whatever the intent may be, the result can be immediate. Rumors are spread across the globe in seconds by the use of social media. Truth may also be broadcast immediately for the betterment of social awareness and global community development. We need to be considerate of the media’s sources and information in order to be accurate in our trust and application of the message’s content.
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