“Social media is a collective term for websites and applications that focus on communication.” Social media give us fast news and information, but their contents shouldn’t be taken seriously until verified.
Gone are the days of waiting for the morning or afternoon news. It’s the social media channels that have made news available every minute.
Our time is called “the Digital Age”. We digitally receive news in seconds irrespective of its location. The instant an event occurs somewhere in the world, that occurrence is instantly read or watched. Wow to the Internet; it’s the Internet age.
For many of us, social media is the main source of our daily news. Simply downloading apps onto our smartphones, we get news and information from afar or nearby. As long we’re connected to the Internet, we can easily keep abreast of events that happen in the world.
Anyone equipped with a Smartphone who comes across an incident can write or record that incident and share it with the world instantly. Consequently, the incident can be viewed or read worldwide right away. We’re amazed at the unparalleled power of social media. Their way of news transmission is both boundless and borderless. They provide you with information and news from anywhere at any time.
The most heavily used social media platforms are Facebook, used by 2.7 billion people; Whatsapp, used by 2 billion people; Youtube, used by 2 billion people; and Instagram, used by 1.16 billion people. You only need to have one or all of these apps installed onto your Smartphone or computer to read what takes place in the world.
All four platforms are capable of conveying visual and text content.
Because you have the social media platforms at your fingertips, you don’t have to sit in front of a television set at a fixed time to get the world’s news; that time is gone. Also, you don’t have to carry a radio set on you and extend its antenna to get news and information; all you need is to touch your phone’s screen and select the app you want. Then you go from there to get your piece of news. Amazing!
Social media channels supply us with fast and ample news information, but they can’t be relied on until verified. So, be cautious of fake news as there’s too much of it online. People can put whatever they want on the Internet without getting any consequences.
Thus, it’s your responsibility to know what kind of news you’re consuming. For whatever reason, people can misinform and disinform you. Misinformation and disinformation are out there to mislead us. Misinformation is to share false information; disinformation is to create bogus information to trick us and mislead us. Hence, we’ve to watch them out.
To avoid getting false news and information, we’ve to check our news source and the credibility of those who create the news. If it’s from a credible source with a reliable author, we’re then fine to take that news; otherwise, we should be vigilant until fact-checked.