Monday, 16 February 2015

Has Social Media Increased The Quality of New or Decreased It?



I can understand that social media has increased news today, because of the easy access to numerous stories throughout the world and accepting a new generation of news which is upon us. That being said, social media has completely changed the way people think, look and even act towards the news. In my opinion, the news based from social media isn't always the 'right' news, in regards to importance. Personally I find the news from my Facebook, Twitter or Wordpress is directed more towards activity directed to humor. Rather than the traditional way, from TV or newspaper, I find this news while sometimes could have humor but was based more on our economy and offer a somewhat more intelligent insight about our society. 

I read that "On average only about 10% or less stays on the top story online throughout an entire week, when the traditional media will focus on one story for more than week about 50% of the time". This can sometimes be a positive but with social media, there are so many possible things to read that its impossible to keep up with daily news. 

I also believe, with social media being peoples main source for the news, they will most likely run into stories that don’t represent 100% truth. While the easy access to social media is one of its strongest traits, it also weakens the information coming from it because anybody can post anything. I do believe social media has made it easier for everyone to interact and discuss the news whether it be negative or positive, but when it comes to the quality of the news, I think it down grades the information being processed to us. Theres no gurantee on the quality of news because anybody can post anything and nobody is there to disregard if its truth or not.

With all that being said, I think social media has helped our generation embrace certain things going on in our society and help people keep up with current events. Speaking personally, I don't keep up with events going on within the paper or news but when it comes to checking my social media sites, I'm more obligated to read it. But when it comes down to it, I believe the quality has decreased when it comes to the truth in news.