R Kelly Garrett Facebook's Problem Is More Complicated Than Fake News

In the article “Facebook’s Problem is More Complicated Than Fake News,” R. Kelly Garrett explores the idea of reading and interpreting information online. The research questions whether posts facebook have a negative effect or not. Although the main focus of his article was about politics and how facebook posts affected the latest American presidential election, it also raised questions about our relationship with social media and the news. Garrett voices his concern about the reliability of the news that is posted on facebook considering the large amount of people that put trust in it. His research regarding the software on facebook (and possibly other social media sites) describes the way in which our home feeds are filtered so that articles

On facebook (and most other forms of social media) our home feeds are filled with articles and posts that are similar to ours. This is a simple and valid feature for social media platforms to have as it creates a space where users don’t have to see information or opinions that wouldn’t interest them. I think that this is why social media platforms are so appealing, it is a way to see, read and hear new things that have a relation to something we already enjoy. As Garrett said, “the popular claim that filter bubbles are why fake news thrives on Facebook is almost certainly wrong.” This is more likely just the way that we are, I don’t see a large difference between this and our interactions away from social media. It is human nature to surround ourselves with people who we have a connection with, and more often than not, sharing interests or beliefs. I think it all comes down to being aware of the situation. For me, I know that the views and opinions I see online aren’t going to be every side of a story, yet this is still the same mindset we should be keeping in the real world. Because we will only come into constant contact with others that share something with us, we should always remember that there are people living separate lives with different views, however I don’t think this needs to be a reason to add posts to social

I think the “problem” that Garrett speaks about can easily be minimised by the knowledge that everything we see and read on facebook - and anything else online - will most likely not be the complete truth. As I have always been aware of this, I don’t think fake news online has fully grabbed my attention anyway, however according to the article, 44% of Americans get their news from facebook (and probably a larger amount rely on other forms of social media) I would assume that New Zealanders have a similar statistic to this, as most people see or hear things on social media before it will be on the TV or newspaper. I don’t believe that facebook needs to manage what posts are reliable or not (because it is only social media after all), readers just need to be aware that the majority of posts are opinion based and therefore won’t include the full truth or all the facts. It should be up to the readers to choose what sources they trust for genuine news compared to