Social Media and Truth

How do I know what I know? This is a really good question that I've never really thought about. I consider myself a pretty trusting person so when I read an article or watch a news program, I usually consider the source and then determine whether it’s real or not. Although some news organizations have made errors while broadcasting a story, it doesn't happen often. So when I’m watching Bay News 9 or CNN, I tend not to do research because I have faith that the reporters know what they are talking about. I can’t say the same with social media. When I read things online or in my Facebook news feed, I don’t automatically think everything is on the up-and-up. Thanks to stories on social media, I am now very proficient at using Google. I will investigate a story until I’m confident it’s true. For example, today I read an article shared on my Facebook page in regards to President Obama and his take on working families. He’s supposed to have a white house summit on the issue of the US not having paid maternity leave, work flexibility, and other basic needs of a working-class family. At first glance, I wasn't sure if this was true because I honestly didn't know the US didn't have paid maternity leave. Not knowing information and then learning it for the first time will make some people skeptical of its validity. I first read about this summit in the Huffington Post via President Obama’s blog. After reading the blog, I then did a Google search and found the story again in the New York Daily News and on the White House website. Obviously, this is really going to happen.

This was an easy story to make credible, but unfortunately, it isn't always. I would say that social media sites fall under the following news models -- Journalism of Assertion and Journalism of Affirmation. The first news model, Journalism of Assertion, “puts the highest value on immediacy and volume and in so doing tends to become a passive conduit of information” and the second news model, Journalism of Affirmation, “builds loyalty less on accuracy, completeness, or verification than on affirming the beliefs of its audiences, and so tends to cherry-pick information that serves that purpose” (Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2010). I believe social media was created for exactly that…for media, stories, news, etc. to be shared socially among friends, colleagues, family, and even strangers. Just like the everyday news journalist, social media sites want to be the first to have ‘breaking news’ and in order for stories to be shared right away, the sites will post something without knowing all the facts. This isn't in every case, but it quite a few. Due to this “need to be first” mentality, not all social media sites are dependable for trustworthy information. I think a site can still be the first to break a story as long as they include “story still developing”. With this simple statement, it’s okay for them not to have all the facts, as long as everyone knows they are working to update the public as soon as they can. So as of right now, I take some social media stories with a grain of salt unless I have credible back-up from a news station or newspaper whose reputation is solid.