Different Contexts of Using the Social Media to Release News - Essay Example

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Social Media News Introduction With the increasing use of social media as a means of communication, it has been easy for many people to be reached within a very short period of time compared to other means of communication. In fact the whole world has been reduced to a village due to the social media. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snap Chat, and Twitter are some of the many social media platforms being used. It is estimated that ¾ of the world population can access the internet so the social media platforms. The scenario has made many users to read a lot of information from the platforms some that might be through while other information may be false. Nowadays some people have embarked to give out news that are said to be fake with an aim of achieving their personal goals. Some of the users of the social media platforms are politicians, terrorist groups, hackers, and other individual with different interests. Always these groups will release different information meant to fool the public in order to achieve its mission. Therefore, news that may be released by the competing groups may not be true about opponents. This may fool the public to believe in them though they may not be reflecting the true picture. Due to increased release of fake news via the social media, it has been difficult for the social media users to believe in any news via this social media platforms. Many individuals have always been rendered victims when they believe in the news that are in the social media. An example terrorist groups have been releasing information that is meant to threaten the public and create tension within a given region. In other instances, the terrorist have been using this fooling information to lure young people join these groups with promises that they will have a better life something that is not true. On the other hand, politicians may be releasing false information about their opponents in a bid to woe the public. Some instances we have seen some politicians releasing some fake news that have even infringed the human rights of their competitors. Though the information has excited their supporters some of it has been fake. It is important that the social media users to understand the news being released may not always reflect the true picture of the prevailing conditions. They should engage in further investigation before banking their decisions on the information that has been released via the social media. Other methods of confirming the news before using them in decision making, should be laid down. This will protect most of the users from being duped with the fake news which may hurt them at the end. It is important the information to be compared with the rest of news outlets before using them in any way. Regardless of the caution, there will be continued cases of fake news released via the social media. It is important for the administrators of the social media platforms to develop at least criteria that can be met before posting them. Regardless of the negative stories that have been said about the social media there are cases where the social media has been an important factor in shaping news. It has allowed individuals who could not access mainstream media to grow themselves. In this paper we are going to look into different aspects of fake news via the social media by considering different contexts. Different contexts of using the social media to release news Wesley Lowery observe that social media news can act as the primary source of information as the mainstream media may be controlled on what it should release to the public. “Citizen Watchdogs and the Future of News” is one of the instance where the social media played an important role in making it news that had to trend all over the globe. In fact people had gone to the page of the one who had released the news to confirm it as the primary source. Wesley Lowery believes that the social media had played an important part in ensuring that the news had reached as many people as it can. He observes that if the police were the ones who were depended on in order to release the whole news, then they could have regulated the content. However, in a great deal with other participants in the news they used the social media to spread the news all over. The fact the social media played an important in the creation of the news means it means the social media can an integral part in developing a person who cannot access the mainstream media. Though there can be different sources of the same news in the social media due to different people posting it, it will be easy to find the true information as it was by going through the news. The scenario is an indication that no one can underestimate the social media in spread of news and when it comes to get primary information it can be better than the other mainstream media regulated by different rules. This makes it necessary for the news makers to further engage in learning on ways they can build social media to assist in making news. The argument is different in "The Scariest Part of Facebook's News Problem" article. Though social media has played an important part in making news, to some extent it has been limited due to the trend of fake news seen. There has been a trend that fake news are the highest percentage in the news feeds in the different platforms. Taking consideration of the "The Scariest Part of Facebook's News Problem", it observes that there has been a continuous increase of usage of fake news in the social media platforms. Facebook for example is said to be having 44% of the total news being fake. This means that it will be difficult for one to rely completely on the social media news. The trend of fake news in the social media has been a problem and has hampered the progress of the social media to have more impact on its activities dealing with the social media. With the fact that almost half of the population in the world get news from Facebook and the rest of the social media platforms, it is important for the users to be responsible of what they post in their pages. To some extent the article “Misinformation on Social Media - Can Technology Save Us?” agrees with the above point. Those who are after creating fake news in the social media have specific reasons as to why they do it. According to the "Misinformation on Social Media - Can Technology Save Us?” some of the reasons why they do these is as follows. They create fake accounts to spread political astroturfing, there are software that assist them hide IPs to make it difficult for them to be traced. Due to the fake information that they give us they are able to penetrate our beliefs using the false information to influence our decisions. The fake news will always be used to ensure that our interests are of the public are being changed by crafting the information that will easily conform what they need at that particular moment and in any circumstances they are in. Always politician use the social media to portray themselves as people who are better than the competitors. Fake information also can be a form of propaganda that will always adjust those with strong stands in terms of particular aspects to support them. The support may not be the right direction that we may be taking. This is because those who undertake the whole issue of fake news influence us negatively to support what even we do not believe. Issie Lapowsky observes that there is need for different social media user to carefully scrutinize what they post. Some news may inflict fear and cause havoc in the public something that may not be health for peace in a given region. Other disagreements in the social media may not be the best as they may raise debates that are unnecessary and lead to ugly discussions. According to Issie Lapowsky in his article of "Social Media is making the Debate on Guns - And Trump - Worse" he observes the arguments in the social media can be positive or negative. When discussing certain events in the social media may have a very serious impact in the general public. An example is the discussion that occurred on media regarding the issue of shooting event created public fear something that was a positive cause for the general public. On the other hand he compares it with the way Trump used the social media to announce his presidential bid. His consistency was one of the things that lead to having a strong candidature as he had created public awareness on his wants. In fact he hit headlines due to the posts that he could make on the social media platforms. He concludes by saying that there is need for one to seriously evaluate what he/she is going to post because it has a great influence in the general public. There is need to tame the spread of fake news vial the social media platforms. It is important to understand the role the social media has played in terms of influence in the recent years. In the American politics, the social media played a very important role in influencing the presidential victory. President Barrack Obama had been very active in the social media and had many followers the same way president Trump has been. The increased use of the social media by the dignitaries has attracted the civil rights and scrutiny of what they post. The close scrutiny has led to rues being created on what can be posted and what cannot. Therefore there should be rules laid down on how the social media should be handled and what should be posted there. The argument of Julie Beck is about morals when posting in the social media. Posting of information in the social media should much mind about morals. Other posts to a given extent lack to observe the basic morals. This has led to sometimes embarrassing information getting to the public domain. The scenario to lack of respect in the society. There is need for the social media users to frequently consider what they want to post. This will ensure sanity on the use of the social media and upholding morals in the community. Julie Beck in her article "Understanding America's Moral divides" she observes that there is need to engage in arguments that hold high moral levels. She goes ahead to observe that there is need for social media users to respect other people’s stands. This will assist them not to engage in arguments that will expose there personal disagreements in the society. To some extent there are situations where social media arguments have been so hot to an extent that it reveals what the secret stands are that should not get into the public domain. In cases where people engage in political debates there has not been morals in any way as they tend to expose there hidden secrets. This makes it difficult for the morals to be observed in these debates. However, generally there is need for social media users to learn on how to observe morals when they engage in general debates. From the above observations, the social media can be viewed in two perspectives. The first part is where it is viewed as a platform that can be used to create news and deliver them as they are without being regulated in any way. The social media plays an important role in creation of news and it can develop those who are not able to access the mainstream media. To find primary information/news one can opt to search through the social media and find how the original information was. On the other hand the social media can be used to spread false information something that if care is not taken can hurt the general public. Therefore, it becomes difficult to believe on the news being spread via the social media Conclusion The use of social media has grown over years something that has resulted the change of trend in the news industry. There is need to learn further on how to use the social media and better the services being undertaken on it. Care should be taken so that we cannot harm the social media users and the general public. Work Cited http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/11/22/how-to-stop-the-spread-of-fake-news https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/citizen-watchdogs-and-future-news http://www.vox.com/new-money/2016/11/16/13637310/facebook-fake-news-explained http://theconversation.com/misinformation-on-social-media-can-technology-save-us-69264 https://www.wired.com/2015/12/social-media-is-making-the-debate-on-guns-and-trump-worse/ http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/11/22/how-to-stop-the-spread-of-fake-news https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/the-psychology-of-moral-divides/510569/ Read More