Social Media as a News Source

According to the Pew Research Center, about 68% of their Americans look to social media platforms to receive their daily news.  57% agree that they are suspicious these sources are inaccurate.  At the click of a button, with most of us having our phone in our hands at all times, we can visit a social media platform that we can look to find our local and international news.  What's questionable about these sources is their credibility and accuracy.  We have become a generation of everything being fast-paced.  If we don't get something we want within a reasonable amount of time, it is not good enough for us.  Looking to social media for news sources is as easy as it comes these days to get your news anywhere, anytime.  Because it is so easy, we must question the credibility of these sources because they may not be as accurate as they appear to be.

Reading a well-crafted article can lead us to believe that our sources can be credible.  However, this is not always the case.  Inaccurate news sources are spread all over the internet every day.  We need to become more aware of what is reliable and what is not. The Pew Research Center also states that nine in ten Americans believe that social media companies have at least some control over the news that is being delivered to the public.  Social media companies tend to have established policies, meaning that they are sometimes obligated to prioritize certain news sources.  This can lead to bias and misleading information. 

The Pew Research center recognizes that Facebook is the dominant source of news for most Americans.  52% of U.S. adults use Facebook as a reliable news source.  This caught my eye because we had also mentioned this in class, and seemed to be a surprise to everyone.  I feel this is because a majority of young people have left Facebook to turn to Snapchat, Instagram, twitter, etc.  Facebook for me is something I never use, if you were to send me a message on Facebook messenger, it is likely that I will not see it for at least a week.  I usually use Facebook to connect with family members, but I do not use it very frequently.  I do, however, use Facebook primarily to seek articles that are being shared by my friends and family.  The most eye-opening thing to me when researching this topic was that Facebook was the most dominant form of social media for news sources.