Reflection on Social Media Case 3: Tom Petty's "Death" and Death

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The case of Tom Petty’s “death” and death reflects one of biggest issues I see with social media. There is no way of monitoring posts. People can get on and say whatever they want, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood. This can be seen as a blessing an in many ways it is. The ability to share opinions freely and without fear is something that we as the American people should be very grateful for! However, with this freedom comes some very serious problems. It’s now incredible difficult to find liable resources. I have found myself on a few different occasions read something on Facebook or see it on Pinterest and later in a conversation get into a heated debate with that person when they oppose the information I saw online. I realize completely how silly this is! I’m supporting something I really don’t have the facts to support, but that’s what social media can do to us. When we see something enough times we begin to believe it’s true. Jacob Groseck discusses here how social media for many American is there main source for news, however what it often becomes is a fantastic tool for mass misinformation. http://theconversation.com/how-social-media-can-distort-and-misinform-when-communicating-science-59044 Many people like me ready articles and immediately believe them passing the information onto friends, family, and basically anyone who will listen.
            It’s so easy for the media to misinform the public. When we see a post it’s so easy for us to view the content as accurate. However, it’s becoming more and more apparent just how easily false information is spread. Kalev Leetaru discusses in his article Does Social Media Actual Reflect Reality how social media algorithms are becoming more and more sophisticated but less accurate. Companies want the newest and greatest technologies but don’t understand the glitches that can occur which messes with the data being shared. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2016/02/16/does-social-media-actually-reflect-reality/#5df1bf984e43

I find this information fascinating. Our society is so influenced by what we read on social media platforms but we don’t even know how accurate the posts are. This information has made me want to actually do my research when it comes to important issues and not rely on my Facebook friends to give me the information.

Comments

  1. JButlerFebruary 7, 2018 at 9:53 PM

    Good work Molly. I liked what you said about media misinforming the public. Rather than being our plug into outside information, we have to be careful and decipher fact from fiction.

    ReplyDelete
  2. badgeraustinFebruary 8, 2018 at 10:12 AM

    Good thoughts. However , there was never any way to monitor what your friends say for truth. There is still a need to verify claims and news even when it is posted in print or online.
    The amount of bs in the world is not increased, but each bit of it is much more proliferatable with social media.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownFebruary 8, 2018 at 1:08 PM

    I completely relate to this! I often forgot that not everything on the internet is true. I took a Media Literacy class last semester and I had to do a fact checking assignment. I had to read articles and then see if the facts held up. It was such a long process! We can no longer rely on news sources that we trust. In this case study, we read that even though CBS News is widely viewed as a credible source, they still reported information that wasn't true. We need to be more careful in what we choose to believe on the internet.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownFebruary 8, 2018 at 5:41 PM

    I am agreed with you on both aspects of you post; one, yes, it is fascinating and two, it is misleading. That is why I like to believe that we can do it better by being more critical about the information that we have on ours screens.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2018 at 12:02 AM

    I totally agree with you Molly with your post. You can't monitor what people are going to be talking about to public and once you see the post so many times you can actually start to believe it. Great job!

    ReplyDelete

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