Social Media Credibility

Interest and curiosity are human nature and people will always turn to sources of information to fulfill these needs. However, sometimes not all those sources are reliable. As the years pass by; data being more accessible, regardless of whether it is through word of mouth or conventional and mainstream media. Data brings a new era of information that gives people the opportunity to develop to a network full of information and knowledge, which they can use to their advantage and strengthen their future careers. Having simple and easy access to all this information is important; it empowers people to understand and learn about the world and their surroundings. It encourages them to be critical thinkers and productive workers, to make informed

If big news outlets like Twitter and Facebook do deal with this problem so well, why is there so much false news on the internet? Media credibility plays a huge role in social networking as most people look to major outlets such as Twitter and Facebook for their daily news and drama. However, it poses a question, to what level is that information true? Studies show that around 56% of the information is true online, and most of this information is coming from established sites and government sites, whereas sites posted by individuals are about 90% of the time false. Due to this new era of digital media, people are turning to broadcast media and relying on them for their daily news. If this is mostly based on lies or not entirely accurate news, how much does it affect media credibility? An example of this is the bombing during the Boston Marathon. April 15, 2013; on this day, a tragedy occurred during a marathon at the finishing line in the city of Boston. Two bombs exploded within minutes of each other, resulting in a nationwide crisis and caused a media frenzy where social and mainstream media fed off each other with speculations and rumours. Once again, social media proved to be its own undoing where people took this legitimate news. Similarly to this, just a week later, a tweet from a Twitter account perceived to be trustworthy

One side brings society many social benefits and leaves positive imprints beyond measure on our lives; the other side leads you to a world full of deceptive traps and lies set out by people for their profits; this can have monumental effects on innocent people’s lives and workplace. Although Facebook has started to crack down and detect these malicious lies, there is still a long time to go. We must learn to utilize these sites as they can prove to be an invaluable asset to our society; we must also learn that not everything we read or see online is highly accurate. The algorithms placed on these sites put them at blame because it takes the “hot” topics and makes them popular, when a high percentage of them are rumours or completely