In the age of rapidly advancing technology, we’re glued to our devices 24/7. Whether it be sneaking a text to your best friend across the room in the middle of class or just lazily scrolling through social media for hours, our electronics have a hold on us. With the creation of social media, apps such as Instagram and Tiktok, are easy platforms for our generation to share information on; it’s become a primary news source. According to Nicole Martin of Forbes, ‘of more than 2.4 billion internet users, 64.5 % receive breaking news from platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Youtube and Instagram instead of traditional media.’ These platforms have control over what information we see because an article has to be liked or shared multiple times before many people can see it on their feed, as a result news travels very quickly. An example of this was when Rihanna announced her second pregnancy earlier this year. It was a rumor at first which spread quickly on Twitter and Instagram, until she confirmed it at her Super Bowl LVII halftime show.
Journalism in social media can have cons too. Fake news can be spread through misinformation on these platforms. Consumption of misinformation can reduce trust in the media, making it harder to tell fact from fiction. According to the National Literacy Trust Fake News and Critical Literacy Report ‘more than half of 12-15 year-olds go to social media as their regular source of news. It is estimated that only 2% of school children have the basic critical literacy skills to tell the difference between real and fake news.’ An instance of misinformation being spread was during Kobe Bryant’s death in 2020. Every outlet was trying to get the news out first, leading to false reporting being spread.
So to conclude, social media is a powerful tool in the field of journalism. It can be used to share anything and everything, providing us with the ability to stay interconnected from anywhere.
