The Evolving Role of
News on Twitter and Facebook
I’m not surprised
that more and more people are getting their news from these sites. Why check
different sites each day when the news can come to you on a streamlined site? Turning
to Facebook for news allows users to get different news perspectives and topics
all while keeping up with friends and family all on the same site. This
eliminates the need to remember to go to different news sites to get information.
For Twitter news usage, the novelty is in the real-time updates. On Twitter, a
user can follow any number of news outlets, political candidates, or even
specific journalists and receive real-time updates to debates, national events,
local happenings, and anything else that might be going on at that time. Getting
news from Facebook also allows you to share that post or comment and begin a discussion
with other people on Facebook.
I don’t think getting
news from social media dilutes or diminishes news or journalism sites. Those
sites are still used and the users still visits the site even if they don’t
search for the news site directly. Social media sites just helps users to find
the news in one place from all different sites easily.
The Social Network
Illusion that Tricks Your Mind
The majority
illusion can be powerful. Social media sites are where people can see what
their friends think and do. It can be quite persuasive coupled with the mere
exposure effect as well as pressure to conform to social norms. Social media definitely
gives people a skewed view of what their friends are really like or what the
world is like.
With the elections
coming up, a voter might be swayed to vote for a certain candidate because of
the majority illusion. They might be convinced that a certain candidate is the
best candidate because it seems that most of their friends support them. This effect
can also negatively affect teens with pressure to participate in more harmful
activities if they perceive that the majority of their friends are doing it.
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