Last post, I discussed how social media has changed the way we produce and distribute information.
As a follow-up, today’s topic is: consumption. Ta-da!
Anyone with a Twitter account knows that social media has undoubtedly changed the way people consume news. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, about two-thirds of Americans got their news on social media in 2018[1]-- needless to say, that’s not a small number.
However, the same survey shows that 57% of social media news consumers expect the news they find there to be inaccurate.
In fact, though they ubiquitously use social media to read the news, the majority of consumers seem to think that social media has had little positive impact on their lives.
62% of Americans adults say social media companies have too much control over the mix of news people see, and 55% think social media’s role in news distribution has resulted in a worse mix of news.[2]
Around two-thirds of Americans have heard of social media bots, and, of that group, a whopping 80% say that bots are used maliciously.[3]
I don’t know about you, but these stats make me ask just one question: why would anyone continue to go to social media for their news? What’s made it blow up so big? Does anyone see any positives?
My hunt for answers brought me to my roommate, Lauren Hamilton. A journalism major at The University of Maryland, she’s the most social-media-savvy person I know.
When I asked her why she thought she—and so many others—go hit their socials for news content, her answer was simple.
“It’s convenient,” she said. “It’s meeting me where I am.”
While I typed furiously, Lauren told me that oftentimes, when she opens up an app like Twitter she’s not necessarily looking for news.
“I’m just on the app for information,” she said. “News comes along with that a lot of the time. It’s a subsidy of my social media usage rather than the whole purpose of it.”
News on social media, she said, also plays into people’s filter bubbles. Just as it’s important in virality, content relevancy plays a part in why she goes to an app for her news: it’s tailored specifically to her.
So has social media bettered or worsened Lauren’s personal consumption of news?
Well, according to her, neither. She reads more news than she ever did before, she said, but she doesn’t necessarily see a change in the quality of what she’s reading or how she’s reading it.
However, Lauren told me she thinks that social media has an overall negative effects on society’s news habits, even if she doesn’t individually feel those effects—and the stats appear to back her up.
- SJ
- SJ
[1]Shearer, Elisa, and Katerina Eva Matsa. “News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2018.” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, September 18, 2019. https://www.journalism.org/2018/09/10/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2018/.
[2]Shearer, Elisa, and Elizabeth Grieco. “Americans Are Wary of the Role Social Media Sites Play in Delivering the News.” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, October 2, 2019. https://www.journalism.org/2019/10/02/americans-are-wary-of-the-role-social-media-sites-play-in-delivering-the-news/.
[3]Stocking, Galen, and Nami Sumida. “Social Media Bots Draw Public's Attention and Concern.” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, September 18, 2019. https://www.journalism.org/2018/10/15/social-media-bots-draw-publics-attention-and-concern/.
Comments
Post a Comment