Social media platforms are primary sources of news for many Americans, despite a growing concern about the credibility of social media news.
According to a Pew Research Center study, about two-thirds of American adults get news from social media sites. Of that portion, 57 percent said they believe a large portion of the news they receive is inaccurate. When asked what they liked most about getting news from social media platforms, twenty-one percent of Americans expressed the “convenience” in receiving their news from social media sites.
University of Memphis public relations professor and social media expert Melissa Janoske said social media allows people easy access to information they want, even if it may be largely inaccurate.
“I think we can be skeptical, but we assume getting some news is better than no news, even if it’s not accurate,” Janoske said. “And so we’re willing to somewhat overlook the fact that it may be fake or not as accurate as it could be.”
Janokse also said checking sources of news found on social media can help distinguish if an article is accurate or misleading.
“I think the important thing to do is to check your sources and to check something like who is sharing the news that you’re seeing, where is it coming from, and who is the article citing and looking at those sorts of things to make sure the article is not misleading,” Janoske said. “You can write all kinds of headlines or any sort of clickbait-y titles to things to seem like the article is going to go one way when really we may or may not be able to send it that way.”
Some students at the U of M said they are skeptical of using social media for their news. Paul Anderson, a junior psychology major, said although he does not personally get news from social media, it is acceptable as long as people check the credibility of the source.
“I think that it can be fine as long as you personally investigate the article, the story or whatever and see if that’s actually valid,” Anderson said. “A lot of people get their news exclusively from social media, and I think that’s fine as long as the news consumer takes matters into their own hands and reads more than just the headline.”
Junior apparel and accessory merchandising major Jasmine Booker said she uses a variety of social media sites to get her news.
“I use Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube,” Booker said. “I don’t think that it’s all accurate, but it does provide a way of communication and to figure out what’s going on in the world, in my opinion. Some people do put their trust into social media, some people don’t, and some people just weigh what they see to see if it’s good or bad.”
Senior psychology major Taylor Noel said she doesn’t fully pay attention to the news, but the news she does get comes from Instagram.
“I use Instagram,” Noel said. “I don’t believe all of it is accurate, but I mainly use it for entertainment purposes.”
