CP1
The main argument of this article is about how social media can be used in a positive manner and how activists use #’s can spread awareness ¨The power of social media can amplify voices, instantaneously spread information, and increase collaboration across diverse groups of people.¨In this quote, they describe the use of social media to uplift voices and stories, create awareness, and build and strengthen relationships and it creates a space for organizations, activists, and citizens to demand justice. The promotion of college awareness has boosted the general concern and support over these troubling or problematic issues within our society. “Since 2018, according to research from Pew Research Center. The breakdown of platform usage shows that Facebook is the most widely used platform across demographic groups, with roughly 70% of adults saying they use the platform, but that Instagram and Snapchat have an especially strong following among young adults. The research further shows that roughly three-quarters of Facebook use.” In this quote, they are including statistics on how widely spread the distribution of information has increased in the age of social media.
Additionally, there are many negative impacts of social media on the intake of information. One of these negative impacts is how social media creates echo chambers in which you only intake information from one side which a huge bias and it does not show you both sides without more research or exploration. “Her team sampled 40,000 Twitter users, breaking them up based on their political ideologies, far and moderate right, and far and moderate left. The team found that when there is a hot-button issue in the news, moderate positions seem to disappear.” In this quote, they explain how there is no middle or centrist moderator to make sure everything is mediated and fair to both sides. Stanford political science professor and Hoover Institution fellow Morris Fiorina has spent years studying political polarization vs. sorting. He says it’s too soon to tell whether social media echo chambers are significantly changing how we vote. A lot of Americans he notes, aren’t even on social media. In this quote, they talk about how while many people consume their media nowadays is through social media, only time will tell as far as our swayed opinions through social media.
After my research, I do believe that while we need more research there is definitely evidence that our surroundings and our consumption of information and media. The past has told us enough about how consumption of information and media was been able to win elections or to influence people to speak, act and write the way they do.