Social media gave the public the freedom to express themselves openly to the rest of the world. It allowed them to instantly create and exchange information and ideas through different mediums: text, pictures, videos. People felt empowered.
Also, social media turned the act of reading news a participatory experience, as it allowed the public to share and comment them. In a survey by Doug Gross for CNN, in 2010 75% of the American population got their news from emails and/or social media websites, mostly Facebook and Twitter. The problem is that, as social media is an open source, there is no formal barriers in publishing.
ANYONE CAN BE A JOURNALIST
Everyone can write about anything they please, even about something they have no idea about. The democratisation of news caused the need to be skeptical about everything you encounter online, even a Facebook profile.
How to detect junk news:
- They usually have the most intriguing headline, and use words such as breakthrough.
- CAPITAL LETTERS. Abuse of CAPITAL LETTERS in the headline to catch YOUR attention.
- It is a prediction of a worldwide disaster. They sometimes even give dates!
- It tells you an easy way to cure something that is not cured easily, for example cancer or obesity. "One simple step to lose 5 kg in one week" or "Miracle ancient root that cures cancer" are just two of the many headlines I regularly come across in my Facebook Homepage.
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Screenshot by Chris Gayomali for
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- It is important to check the credibility of the source. There are hundreds of Facebook applications that invent news only to get visitors or likes.
