From my viewpoint I believe that social media has both, increased the quality of news as well as decreased it. Before you jump to any conclusions as to why I am not choosing a side, hear me out. I am not one of those “fence sitters”, and after you read my points you will see that as long has you educate yourself, you too, may share the same vantage point.
By and large I do believe that news is issued to any individual as it has never before. Instead of the old, traditional way of waiting for the evening news to see what has gone on in the world, you can just click on your laptop, computer, or cell phone and quickly connect to any media web site. You can read the journalist blogs or watch their podcasts. This is vast becoming one of the easiest way for someone to access the daily news, as long as you are educated enough to know that the website that you are visiting is creditable. These news agencies make it even easier for you to stay connected by offering news alerts that are sent directly to your email, which means your phone, computer and/or IPad get instant updates. You can even set up the accounts on your facebook account or sign up for their twitter accounts. As long as you know that the information you are accessing is creditable than this is a huge step in the right direction. This is why social media has become a pillar in the news world.
There are however, situations where people use social media outlets to purposely misrepresent an issue or topic. This is why I believe that social media has decreased the value of news today. When people are not aware that the website or email they are reading is actually fiction. All of this reminds me of the “The War of The Worlds” broadcast. Although the radio broadcast was announced to be a story, people still believed it to be factual. Unfortunately, in today’s day and age, some people intentionally try to pass fiction off as fact and that is the down side to social media. Some people purposely send factious emails, post untrue blogs and make false edits to web pages like Wikipedia.
Does social media improve the quality of news or decrease it? Well, if I had to make a choice I would have to say that the good outweighs the bad. Social media is constantly finding new ways for people to access the world news. The times are changing and people are starting to catch on. News, now is just a click away and as long as you trust the source, than all the power to you.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Is-Wikipedia-Trustworthy-15597.shtml
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Is-Wikipedia-Trustworthy-15597.shtml
Hi Dawn, good points you have made even though I blogged about a decrease in quality. I can see why you're contemplating the question and many great debate sections were made, I geuss when you realize how much fact and information is provided to us on a daily basis we should take advantage of it and double reference it.
ReplyDeleteAll very good points, and all very well thought out. I agree with everything to do with how it's decreasing the quality of the information because it's true that just by the click of a button people are posting false information. You're definitely right that you need to be able to judge whether or not the source is reliable or not. I also agree with the fact that it's a positive thing that Social Media has come up with more ways for people to access things going on in the world because it's important for people to be informed and educated on world issues.
ReplyDeleteGood points there Dawn, i feel the same way about how social media has affected the quality of news. I also believe that social media has increased and decreased the quality of but the good outweighs the bad. This is something that we should take advantage of because now we are getting a lot more to read about that ever before. Although there are some inaccurate information out there, but its up to us to choose the reliable sources.
ReplyDeleteHey Dawn, I enjoyed your blog and find it interesting to here the positive side considering i'm focusing on the negative issues. I suppose it's a good thing that news and information are so readily available. I also agree that the internet can be an ezcellent source for news and information if it is a legitimate source.
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