Social “Media” & News Consumption

I found this week’s readings to be fascinating, and they really got me thinking about how social media has affected the way we learn about the world around us. What I think is most interesting is the discrepancy between how free we feel our information to be and how free it actually is. Jay Rosen preaches about the “former audience,” claiming that we are no longer controlled by big media and are free to choose or create the content we wish to see. While his argument has merit, I think he is undermined by the various (code-borne) nuances of social media that allow more insidious effects on the media we see. For example: Eli Pariser’s TED talk about filter bubbles. Instead of the big bad broadcast gatekeepers of information, we now have to deal with these algorithmic gatekeepers, created without “the kind of embedded ethics that the editors” once had. Another example of this is the Mark Zuckerberg quote from Herrman’s “Platform Creep.” News stories, he believes, will continue to trend “towards richness and speed / frequency.” The structure and format of the Internet affords content with those qualities — by allowing rich video content and by greatly increasing competition and therefore speed of content — so that is the content that is created and consumed the most. However, this leaves room for editorial mistakes, fraudulent or false stories, and missed details. It also pushes less digestible stories to the background.

Where the content we consumed was once controlled by bodies like Time Warner, Viacom, or the NFL, it is now prescribed by Google or Facebook. The players and the rules may change, but the game stays the same. Only now, as Eli points out, the matter is further problematized by the fact that we have the illusion of choice. We believe we are in the age of ultimate informational freedom, and that lulls us into a sense of complacency. Yes, the platforms at the forefront of the industry need to make specific changes in order to reduce the effects of these technological realities. However, we as consumers need to watch our habits, keep looking out for the little manipulations behind it all, and make sure to remain engaged, active, and skeptical citizens of the world.