Social media as a news source is the use of online social media platforms rather than moreover traditional media platforms to obtain news. Just as television turned a nation of people who listened to media content into watchers of media content in the 1950s to the 1980s, the emergence of social media has created a nation of media content creators. Almost half of Americans use social media as a news source, according to the Pew Research Center.[1]
As a participatory platform that allows for user-generated content[2][3] and sharing content within one's own virtual network,[4][2] using social media as a news source allows users to engage with news in a variety of ways,[5] including:
- Consume news
- Discover news
- Share or repost news
- Post their own photos, videos, or reports of news (i.e., engage in citizen or participatory journalism)
- Comment on news
Using social media as a news source has become an increasingly more popular way for old and young adults alike to obtain information. There are ways that social media positively affects the world of news and journalism but it is important to acknowledge that there are also ways in which social media has a negative effect on the news that people consume such as false news, biased news, and disturbing content.
A 2019 Pew Research Center poll reported that Americans are wary about the ways that social media sites share news and certain content.[6] This wariness of accuracy grew as awareness that social media sites could be exploited by bad actors who concoct false narratives and fake news.[7]
- ^ Walker, Mason; Matsa, Katerina Eva (September 20, 2021). "News Consumption Across Social Media in 2021". Pew Research Center's Journalism Project. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
- ^ a b Obar, Jonathan A.; Wildman, Steve (2015). "Social media definition and the governance challenge: An introduction to the special issue". Telecommunications Policy. 39 (9): 745–750. doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2015.07.014. SSRN 2647377.
- ^ Kaplan Andreas M.; Haenlein Michael (2010). "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media" (PDF). Business Horizons. 53 (1): 61. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003. S2CID 16741539. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 24, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
- ^ Kietzmann, Jan H.; Kristopher Hermkens (2011). "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media". Business Horizons (Submitted manuscript). 54 (3): 241–251. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005. S2CID 51682132.
- ^ Anderson, Monica; Caumont, Andrea (2014). "How social media is reshaping news". Pew Research Center.
- ^ Shearer, Elisa; Grieco, Elizabeth (October 2, 2019). "Americans Are Wary of the Role Social Media Sites Play in Delivering the News". Retrieved March 2, 2022.
- ^ Hemsley, Jeff; Jacobson, Jenna; Gruzd, Anatoliy; Mai, Philip (July 2018). "Social Media for Social Good or Evil: An Introduction". Social Media + Society. 4 (3): 205630511878671. doi:10.1177/2056305118786719. ISSN 2056-3051.