The general public has always shown a strong interest in media available to them. This fascination with media has remained over hundreds of years. While people’s love with media has remained the same, the forms media has taken has changed greatly over time. Some of the most popular, early forms of widely available media included books and newspapers. With new technology being developed, radio became the public’s most popular form of media. However, radio was relatively quickly surpassed as the top form of media by television. Now in the present day, the internet and social networking sites have become the most popular and widely used form of media.
While each form of media over the years has been drastically different, they all share a common trait, they were all used by the public as sources of news and current events. This use of media as a news source includes gaining news on political figures and developments. As social media is being used more and more as a source for political news in the present day, research has been conducted to examine the effects this may have on its audience. One such phenomenon that has been observed is the spread of false stories and information regarding politics and its actors, otherwise known as “fake news”. This page will focus on explaining why people use social media and social networking sites (SNS) as a news source. It will also examine the trend of spreading false information and its consequential effects on audiences.
To properly understand the effects using social media for political news may have, it is necessary to understand why individuals choose social media as a source for news in the first place. In order to explain this, the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) can be utilized. The UGT was developed and designed in order to attempt to explain why individuals choose specific types of media (Phua, Jin, & Kim, 2017). UGT essentially claims that individuals use media because they receive satisfactions that satiate specific needs. There are many needs that are gratified through using media such as social, relaxing, and informational needs (Phua et al., 2017). This theory can explain why people use social media as a source for news because it is a form of media that can fulfil their informational needs. The wide availability, variety and accessibility are also factors which can contribute to people choosing social media as a source for political news.
The use of the internet and social networking sites for news has many positive attributes, including an easily accessible and extremely vast store of information. However, this also comes with negative effects, such as the spread of false information that individuals believe to be true. This phenomenon has been termed as “fake news” and has recently become an infamous and pervasive issue in the public. There are several major factors of the spread of fake news that make its effects a serious concern. The most notable of these factors is that individuals who read fake news frequently believe the information and stories to be true. The fake news stories would often originate from sources which did not require any reviewing or fact-checking prior to release (Allcot & Gentzkow, 2017). This belief of false information can have negative effects on people’s perception of political candidates and may influence the political process.
The recent discussion and concern that has risen from fake news began following the 2016 United States Presidential Election (Allcot & Gentzkow, 2017). During the campaign an influx of fake news stories about the candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, began to pour into the public’s consciousness through social media and social networking sites. These fake news stories would either promote or disparage a specific candidate. These false stories were able to reach a very large audience as they were shared on social networking sites with millions of users, such as Facebook. According to Gottfried and Shearer (2016), 62% of adults in the United States use social media as a source for news. A post-election survey conducted by Allcot and Gentzkow (2017) revealed that 13.8% of individuals used social media as their primary source of information for the 2016 election. These studies indicate that a large percent of the population was exposed to and perhaps influenced by fake news stories prior to the election. While the extent of influence these stories may have had is impossible to determine, it is definite that many individuals were exposed to false information regarding the presidential candidates during the campaign. Further research on this phenomenon is required to better understand the effects fake news stories may have on influencing public perception on political candidates and other political news.
To properly understand the effects using social media for political news may have, it is necessary to understand why individuals choose social media as a source for news in the first place. In order to explain this, the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) can be utilized. The UGT was developed and designed in order to attempt to explain why individuals choose specific types of media (Phua, Jin, & Kim, 2017). UGT essentially claims that individuals use media because they receive satisfactions that satiate specific needs. There are many needs that are gratified through using media such as social, relaxing, and informational needs (Phua et al., 2017). This theory can explain why people use social media as a source for news because it is a form of media that can fulfil their informational needs. The wide availability, variety and accessibility are also factors which can contribute to people choosing social media as a source for political news.
The use of the internet and social networking sites for news has many positive attributes, including an easily accessible and extremely vast store of information. However, this also comes with negative effects, such as the spread of false information that individuals believe to be true. This phenomenon has been termed as “fake news” and has recently become an infamous and pervasive issue in the public. There are several major factors of the spread of fake news that make its effects a serious concern. The most notable of these factors is that individuals who read fake news frequently believe the information and stories to be true. The fake news stories would often originate from sources which did not require any reviewing or fact-checking prior to release (Allcot & Gentzkow, 2017). This belief of false information can have negative effects on people’s perception of political candidates and may influence the political process.
The recent discussion and concern that has risen from fake news began following the 2016 United States Presidential Election (Allcot & Gentzkow, 2017). During the campaign an influx of fake news stories about the candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, began to pour into the public’s consciousness through social media and social networking sites. These fake news stories would either promote or disparage a specific candidate. These false stories were able to reach a very large audience as they were shared on social networking sites with millions of users, such as Facebook. According to Gottfried and Shearer (2016), 62% of adults in the United States use social media as a source for news. A post-election survey conducted by Allcot and Gentzkow (2017) revealed that 13.8% of individuals used social media as their primary source of information for the 2016 election. These studies indicate that a large percent of the population was exposed to and perhaps influenced by fake news stories prior to the election. While the extent of influence these stories may have had is impossible to determine, it is definite that many individuals were exposed to false information regarding the presidential candidates during the campaign. Further research on this phenomenon is required to better understand the effects fake news stories may have on influencing public perception on political candidates and other political news.