Argumentative Essay On Social Media

The introduction of media has significantly impacted the way candidates campaign during the United States presidential debate cycles. While mainstream media outlets (i.e. televised newscasts, radio broadcasts) have played an important role in providing live coverage of events in which candidates spoke about their platforms, the purpose of the media was completely altered with the introduction of social media, specifically Twitter. While journalism was meant to be an unbiased practice, Twitter and other social media sites have taken on the role of a biased news source, forever changing presidential elections in the process.

The Black Lives Matter movement has excelled in momentum due to the online support of social media. Twitter specifically has been useful in support of the movement due to its start of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Of course, there are people who are against the movement overall and this results in a backlash against those who support it. For instance, Twitter as a platform has received backlash against critics for its support and allowance of discussion for the Black Lives Matter Movement. Due to this, my argument focuses on the reasoning behind critics dismissing and discrediting Twitter as a platform in its support for the movement, and then showcasing the importance of Twitter and its usage with the movement.

Kaye is the professor in the School of Journalism & Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She studies the effects media has on consumers and how they use new technologies to get their information. Thomas J. Johnson got his Ph.D. at the University of Washington and he researches how people’s political attitudes and behaviors are affected by digital and social media. The topic discussed in the article is the influence media platforms have on the public’s interpretation on politics, which are the areas of expertise and research that the two authors work on. Kaye studies the technologies behind presenting information and Johnson studies the effects media can have on people’s attitudes and behaviors. This validates them both as credible sources. The article is published in a journal that specifically discusses broadcasting and electronic media, which also acts as the authors’ targeted audience––people familiar and interested in broadcasting and media. This is interesting, when the article talks about how some people can be tunnel visioned into believing only some sources and exposes the audience they’re writing

People have relied on many forms of media when it comes to politics. This year’s election was a step in a different direction. The path that this election was carving was one that was beginning to be heavily traveled. It was the road that many people gained their information about the election their reliance of social media. With the candidates of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party and Donald Trump for the Republican Party, many people were uncertain who they were going to vote for as their next Commander in Chief. Some of the people who were uncertain who would get their vote knew about the ethical problems that Hillary had and the inexperience in the realm of government for Trump.

Society today has become so reliant on social media for news relating to events. This reliance has turned society into the prisoners and social media is the shadows on the wall just like Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. Society in general, use social media like Twitter and Facebook for current events we have become blind to the fact not everything we see is real or factual. For instance, social media will post that a celebrity has passed away we tend to believe it, and instead of doing the research, we will continue to watch the shadows (Twitter and Facebook). Social media will place things on the wall for society to see, but some of us will choose to sit there and keep watching the shadows on the wall. On the other hand there will be the few who will escape, for

Social media by itself is not a threat, for it was created for the purpose of entertainment, like television. Although television also holds the important job of conveying information using the news. In our current times, social media is the new method of obtaining information quickly about events. Even though when most people search social media rather than actual news companies, they do not realize how unreliable it truly is. Twitter especially is credited with playing a role as a source of credible information. It has evolved far beyond its origin of being a simple way to keep in contact with friends. In a recent study done by ING, it was shown that one-third of journalists said social media posts are not a reliable source of information. When news of recent events is given on Twitter, it is called into question because it is unable to be determined how true it is. As stated by Johnson and Kaye we must rely on “the credibility of its user.” This proves that social networks are not credible sources at all and Twitter is a social network so how can it be trusted?

However, as internet journalism rose it becomes a crucial skill to be media literate and to find out for yourself if the information and the medium you’re getting it from are reliable. This potentially misleading display of information that fuels these article headlines make them huge risks in enticing users into obtaining false information. The beauty of social media, though, is that it is the epitome of an open idea network that is filled with hundreds of different mediums, therefore thousands of different

Primarily, user-generated content and social media fostered a participatory culture that expanded the boundaries of the distribution of information. The social networks that were created to manage the influx of information being published subsequently fostered virtual environments that allowed for growth in communities that were grouped by shared interests. It is exactly this type of virtual environment in which Black Twitter was created. Due to Black Twitter primarily focusing on issues that affect the African American population, I move on to discuss the perceptions and realities of American techno culture and race relations in the 21st century. On the surface as a byproduct, primary online activity within America has distributed Western ideals onto those that they perceive to be less fortunate. The less fortunate are those that are perceived to deviate from the cultural norms of the United States. However research and evidence has surfaced to substantiate that the virtual world, in particular social media has higher usage and engagement amongst ethnic minorities, in particular Black people. This is partially due to the ease of access that development of mobile technology has provided. Through twitter, Black Users have built a substantial and political network of influence through cultural signifiers, language and creatively exploiting the tools and features

Traditionally, journalists were given leads or had to find their own stories to report on (Alejandro, 2010, p. 9). News was then chosen through the process of an editor choosing stories for distribution (Lipschultz, 2014, p. 10). With the introduction of web 2.0 tools, and specifically twitter however, this has changed the meaning of what the industry considers to be a scoop and forces the reconsideration of “what journalism is” and “how it is defined” (Alejandro, 2010, p. 9, Lasora, Lewis & Holton, 2012, p. 23, Lipschultz, 2014, p. 11). This is because twitter provides a way for information to be reported on in real time and therefore, people want real time information as quickly as possible (Alejandro, 2010, p. 9). As opposed to previous times, where information was carefully considered be reported on, now, journalists are compelled to accelerate the process of reporting (Alejandro, 2010, p. 9). This means giving audiences pieces of information as soon as it been made available to the journalist or media outlet, so that competitors do not report on it first (Alejandro, 2010, p. 9). The communication and transmission of information has therefore been directly impacted by social media tools such as twitter, which makes the reporting of news more speedy and in demand as

Friends or people we follow via social media platforms become people’s trusted sources of information, even more than search engines. Social media like Facebook and Twitter expose segments of the population to news who might not have gotten it otherwise (Mitchell et al), which fundamentally changes the way we have to conceptualize and measure news use and exposure in an online environment.

Throughout this essay I have selected to focus on the difference of news we see on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to what we’re being presented with on traditional media platforms such as television and radio and which of the two is more likely to have an influence on us as citizens who are consuming the news.

Our world is full of information. We receive a lot of information not only through TV news and newspaper but also through social media such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Hunt Allcott, an associate professor of economics at New York Univeristy, and Matthew Gentzkow, a professor of economics at Standford University, claim that 62 percent of adults in the United States get news on social media in 2016 (212). However, not all the news on social media are true. Fake news are more widely shared than true news and people tend to believe fake news more than true news (Allcott and Gentzkow 212). We need to have the ability to think critically and objectively to identify what is fake and what is true. Otherwise, it can cause a critical damage to our society. For example, social media had a great impact in the United States presidential election in 2016. Allcott and Gentzkow claim that “the most discussed fake news stories tended to favor Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton” (212). They found many commentators suggest that “Donald Trump would not have been elected president were it not for the influence of fake news” (212). Therefore, whether it was right to choose Trump over Clinton or not, it is obvious that critical thinking has become even crucial to our life these days. The quality of our life depends on the quality of our thought. Critical thinkers don't simply accept what they have seen or heard as a fact. They analyze what they hear and experience, and integrate

The internet has proven itself to be a strong and convenient tool for people all around the world to stay connected and have immediate access to vital information right from their computers or smartphones. With the advent of social media sites such as Facebook, which now boasts over a billion monthly active users, more people than ever are using these platforms to keep in touch with world events and breaking news. However, this quick and streamlined access to information has created an expectation in the general public for news and media to be as concise as possible. This newfound expectation for instant, to-the-point news has opened the doors for any source on the web to fabricate brief, sensationalist articles, and in the process lost the nuance and reliability once held by the longer works of well established news publications. Making matters worse, the current framework of these social media sites is designed to favor the viral and controversial, as it draws in more users and keeps them online longer. The internet and social media have changed the way people read their news, so modern media is adapting to be full of polarizing, simple and often outrageous answers to keep these readers engaged, leaving little room to meet in the middle and thus furthering the divide between people of opposing viewpoints in our country.

Many people today participates or are involved in at least one of the social media platforms including facebook, twitter, wikia, instagram, etc. Social media is seen as the main resource people go to in order to find research. This leads to what people consider one of the biggest factor that plays in the change of political landscape from decades ago which is the internet. Social media in particular plays a major part in political viewpoints and the people's viewpoint on the topic. In today's world it is very hard to distinguish between the fake news and conspiracy because thousands of news are being posted that seems authentic. Even though, some social media platforms are trying to help users spot the difference between the real actual news and the fake news, many people are incapable of doing research and believe everything they read. In of the studies it is stated that “62 percent of US adults get news on social media” and therefore as more people are unable to detect inauthentic headlines, the more it is likely to spread globally. Furthermore, social media is also responsible for reinforce confirmation bias especially in politics. One of the biggest problem that social media has among people is the fact that more people are becoming simple minded and only wanting to hear what they want or most of the times someone who support their opinion. Even though social media enables people to exploit different viewpoints, people tend to exploit information that support their

The fragmentation of media is an evolution of a publication or outlet, choosing to direct its support towards a specific platform, or idea, in an attempt to pander to specific sect. The most obvious example of this phenomenon is the polarization of American politics, and the subsequent polarization of American news. The act of choosing a specific media source based on mutual support for a party or issue is often referred to as selective exposure. The interviews were focused on the prevalence of selective exposure in a student’s social media habits and their primary sources for newsworthy information. I was prompted to alter my original task to include the analysis of primary sources as a result of the topic regularly appearing in the planned interviews.