How to screen news on social media has aroused people's concern

After the Boston Marathon bombing, how to screen the news on social media has aroused people's concern.

American Science and technology blog Mashable that social media play an increasingly important role in the process of news dissemination. Social media has a strong immediacy and is also a first-hand source of information. But the authenticity of news on social media is often problematic, so it needs to be carefully identified.

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"If your mother says she loves you, then you have to make sure." "I heard that when I was in journalism early in my career," he said. Journalists often need to be trained to confirm the information they receive from trusted sources. However, the media industry has changed a lot since I first heard this maxim.

As social media such as Facebook and Twitter develop, news travels faster than ever. News is no longer under unified control, which means the credibility of the message is down. Journalists can get more information through social media, but in social media, it's not just journalists who can publish information. The power of information sharing has been dispersed in all hands, including yourself, of course.

In the Harvard Nieman report, Storyful founder and CEO Mark Littel, a social news company, said: "Not long ago, journalists were defenders of scarce information, and readers were passively receiving this information at certain times." Today, we are managers of excess information and content. The discovery, validation, and release of information requires collaboration with active communities. ”

Any individual or media organization can instantly send news clips over the internet, which means more competition. In the print media era, everyone wanted to beat the news. However, the development of social media and digital news complicates the situation.

After the Boston Marathon bombing, we spent a whole week watching social media. Credible media sources and Twitter personal users have posted inaccurate information, such as claiming that the authorities have captured suspects.

The credibility of the media

Jonathan Ladd, a political scientist at Georgetown University, argues that the rise of the internet and cable news, as well as the Jonasan Leide and fragmentation of the media, have led to the unpredictability of the media. "The media industry has become increasingly diverse and fragmented due to technological changes, such as the development of cable television and the Internet, and regulatory policy adjustments," he said in a blog post. ”

He's right, but I want to talk about the impact of social media on fragmented news consumption.

It's not just social media that has an impact on journalists and news organizations. Media consumers now have more opportunities to get news directly through first-hand news sources.

First-Hand news sources

Last Friday, we saw how Boston residents and journalists shared information about police chasing suspects in social media. In social media, they publish photos, videos, and information in real time based on the eyewitness scene.

In addition, they will share information obtained through the police station. 10 years ago, listening to people in the Justice Department needed expensive equipment, and only a limited number of enthusiasts and journalists would use police stations.

For now, all you need is a smartphone. Applications like 5-0 Radio Firstly scanner help users navigate the world's police stations and provide users with information about criminal activities and police actions.

After the explosion of the last Monday, I used the 5-0 Radio firstly Scanner on my iphone to try to get information from Boston. But for a while I found that the local police in Boston did not seem to fully understand the situation. Some of the information they say may be inaccurate or not confirmed. And I can't confirm it, so I shouldn't report that information.

However, ordinary people may not comply with such principles. Unconfirmed information from police stations could be spread to Twitter, which was then discovered by the media and became a news report.

Inaccurate propagation

In "Trust Me, I ' m lying," Rien Holliday (Ryan Holiday) talked about the dangers or improper behavior of bloggers and social media users. These actions will spread like wildfire, and we have seen this last week. "The more immediacy the publishing media (blogs, newspapers, and magazines) are, the more journalists rely on raw online messages, such as social media," says Holliday. ”

This process relies on a trusted delegate, which forwards messages that others are reporting. Because NPR is a "trusted" source, other news outlets are forwarding NPR news that US Democratic Congressman Giffords Gabrielle on was fatally shot. However, the news was later proved to be wrong.

When a trusted website or Twitter user posts something, we assume that they have done their duty to confirm the authenticity of the message, so it is safe to forward the news. However, this is not the case.

The benefits of more information

However, some optimists of the media industry believe that social media will help to verify the accuracy of the message, we can follow the social media user's "digital footprint."

In the book Hacking the Future, Core Strick said: "Unlike traditional thinking, people can get more evidence from social media, compared to offline sources." ”

In some cases, this may be a good thing. Last week, however, Reddit users tried to investigate the bombing suspects in crowdsourcing mode. In the process, some "evidence" has been blamed for being too rash. For the whole week, the Reddit search was less efficient than the police.

Necessary Confirmation

Unfiltered information, including unacknowledged information, is likely to be dangerous. "When I was a young TV reporter, ' prime time ' meant a storyful of the night," said founder Little. And as a social media journalist, I use the word in different ways. Now, I think prime time is the moment that social media takes to create a powerful truth or an unstoppable lie, possibly on Twitter about the death of a star or a video of an explosion on YouTube. In other words, this is the time when news is most effective. ”

According to the words of the BBC and Mr Lee, journalists should ask the following questions when confirming the authenticity of user-made content:

-Can you reach the original source of the message?

-Can you confirm where the photo or video was taken? Can you map it to a landmark on Google Maps?

-Is the street similar to the photos on Panoramio or Google Street View map?

-Is the weather in the video similar to the weather in the weather forecast?

-Is the light shadow in the video consistent with the alleged video shoot time?

-are traffic signs and vehicle licences consistent with the alleged locations?

-Does the video look like a video uploaded by another local user?

-is the information or video too perfect and not too real?

-What site does the information first appear on?

To sum up, using technical resources, human knowledge and community history, journalists and individuals can verify the authenticity of user-made content.

The role of the manager

More than two years ago, Storify founder Potter Herman (Burt Herman) wrote in The New York Times: "The new category of janitors is emerging, whose reputation is based on the ability to highlight relevant content to the followers." We are still looking for the right words to call this new janitor. So far, ' curator ' may be the most appropriate name. ”

It can be said that, at present, all social media users are their own managers. They consume, acknowledge and disseminate accurate and relevant content. This is because, relative to the past, we can more easily access to information.

I still believe that it is possible to rely on the truth provided to us by traditional news organizations, in most cases. However, we need to be smarter media consumers, and note that credible news organizations may also be able to post false news. As a journalist, it is necessary to realize that news is not only one side, but the truth. We must use certain techniques to confirm which information is accurate. And all social media users, including content managers and content makers, must remember: "If your mother says she loves you, then you have to make sure." ”