With the amount of social media websites/ applications out
there, everyday citizens are becoming authors, editors, and publishers of news
and information. Does this mean that the quality of news and information have
increased or decreased?
To me I believe this means the
quality of news and information has increased because, the news we know and
trust now isn’t always acurate, and it lacks a lot of information. The United
Nations says there are 7 billion estimated people on this planet, so we can’t
just depend on the information of one person, because they might leave out some
information that they might not know about or want people to know about. They
might not even tell the truth, and still people will believe them, but with the
increase of social media users, means there will be an increase of knowledge of
a certain topic.
If you want to know what is really
happening on the other side of the world, normally you would go watch the news
or read the papers, but if you want to know the truth about something, then you
will have to get the information from someone that actually experienced the
situation first hand, for example the typhoon that happened in japan and the
severity of the situation. A social media user gives us their point of view on what’s
really going on rather than what the news reports. They give us videos and
pictures along with information of what’s actually happening and how it
happened, and important facts that the news wouldn’t. This helps us to see and
understand the situation better, instead of just hearing it.
Instead of there being just one,
there are many users reporting about a topic so we know and can depend on the
people that are witnessing it first hand or that are more knowledgeable on that
certain topic. Most likely the person on the social media network that is
reporting it, are telling the truth about the topic and with more individuals
reporting it, then that means the viewers will be seeking less information on
the topic because they are giving you tons and tons of information about it. So
basically I’m saying that its great that social media came along, because with
out it, the news and other people might not be giving us certain information
that we, as a society, would want to know about, and also it has increase the
quality of news and information today.
If the news and information that we receive through social media is not always accurate, how is the quality increasing? I believe that if the majority of the news and information received was indeed accurate, then the quality would be increasing.There are many users who all have the capability of editing,writing or publishing news and information, but if their is no proof or referencing how do the readers know that it is factual and can be relied upon. There are cases where referencing and proof is given, hence reliability comes to play, that's why I believe quality has not been decreased or increased but it's in the stage of increasing.Soon users will want facts and not emotional and experience based information. Therefore, It is true that the quantity and the speed at which news and information is received through social media has increased, but when it comes to quality it is still in the process or a stage of enhancement.
ReplyDeletei meant the news and information that we see on the news and other medias like the wall street journal and things on television, might have gotten some words mixers up, oops. but yes these information that the news and other medias give us can be inaccurate, for example, the wall street journal just did a story on a youtube star, and in this report they state a lot of false information about this person, now this person( the youtube star) had to go and correct many flaws that they have stated about him. now if your someone that reads the wall street journal, and your really this information about him then you will be reading inaccurate information, thats why I'm saying news and such medias are not always accurate and its best to get information from the person thats is experiences in the situation, that seen it first hand and that is more knowledgable about the subject, like the person him self, to get the facts right.
ReplyDeletebut yea i might have got some words mixed up and places in the wrong spot... *face palm*
thats why you cannot believe the information of just one person from the news or other television media source, compared to the millions of social media users.
I would have to strongly agree with you Kendel, the news that we receive through traditional news sources are normally biased to no other than political views. They also don't always post what is really happening as you were saying. They tell the stories that will sell papers not the small things that are going on in the background, which in my opinion is just as important as those big stories.
ReplyDeleteGetting the information from the people experiencing it firsthand are people we can actually learn the truth as to what is really going on. So with that I would have to say your blog was accurate to my beliefs and you made some valid points. The only thing I would have to add would be that you didn't really talk about the negatives that social media had on the quality of news and information provided through social media. Other than that I really enjoyed reading your blog on this topic.