Two days ago marked Friday the 13th. This is a fact that I didn't need to have checked. My wife, quoting a Facebook post a few days before Friday informed me it was Friday the 13th and a full moon. And I believed her! I should have checked the facts.
In fact, the next full moon is coming up this coming Saturday, May 21st. But a snazzy mime and enough social media likes and shares, and presto an error is being treated and repeated as a fact. Welcome to the new world of social media as a news source.
Clearly when the next full moon is not major error, at least in my world. But the perpetuation of inaccurate information is happening more and more, and at an alarming rate through social media. People are using things like Facebook as a trusted source of information, which it is not. This unfounded trust of the Internet is causing a dumbing down of society.
I'm not talking about the breaking news posts I get every few weeks mourning the the loss of Joe Cocker. He actually died in December 2014. In the midst of the presidential election in the US currently, both sides are blurring facts and fiction courtesy of social media.
In the past few weeks, there have been reports that Facebook is purposely suppressing stories that favor the Republican Party. Mark Zuckerberg has told the media that they are investigating into those claims. I'm not here suggesting that they did, or did not. I do believe it is very possible for an unchecked, non-journalistic outlet could start to manipulate content. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
There has been a lot written about this topic. For me, the best take I've read has come from Anurag Harsh through a blog post on LinkedIN titled "Is Facebook biased or are its users?
He writes:
"Social media already allows us to tune out everything we dislike and create an echo chamber for what we love. We don't need help entrenching ourselves in our limited world views. Selection biases abound. If Facebook wants to help create a more educated citizenry, then they shouldn't got down this road."
The best political views are the ones that are challenged by others who offer thoughtful opposing views. Hearing only what you want to hear might seem nice, but in the end will actually weaken your intellect and your political values.
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