So there have been a lot of arguments around the advantages and
disadvantages of social networking. Some people claim that social
networking has been a bad influence on individuals: more time spent in
front of computer screens and less time spent interacting with others
than in person. Discussing this among a few friends, a topic of interest
came up which was perfect for a blog entry.
We were talking about the influence of social networking in terms of spreading the news. I know that when it comes to news, I often find out whats happening through Facebook or twitter. Although the fact that I am not much of a news reader might come into play. But often cases have occurred when we all find out important information from come sort of social network.
As a general pattern, by personal observation humanity often spreads the "news" in ways that the communicate. First it was through word of mouth, then through books and writing, then newspapers, then media, and now social networks online.
I was curious however on how social
networking impacts communication in emergency situations. I found a
study titled "Twitter under crisis" (http://goo.gl/xLXHL), which also served as an inspiration
for this blog's title. In this study, there was a detailed analysis of
the spread of tweets and re-tweets during the Chile Earthquake in 2012.
They also mark the impact of "false news" and its spread as well. In the
end they conclude that news is effectively filtered and the difference
between truth and false news claims. A chart in their research indicated
the amount of tweets made that include the word earthquake. Within a
few hours approximately 7000 re-tweets were made about the earthquake.
That is a lot of people getting to know in a very short time.
Twitter
has helped with not only the Chile disaster but many others as well. If
we consider the amount of time for people to know about natural
disasters or emergency situations before social networking. Any person
involved, or watching the disaster happen will call, text or perhaps
report it to a news company. Most of these require a person to contact
another person in order to broadcast the news. Now all it requires is a
single tweet to be reached to all of your followers, who can simply
re-tweet it to theirs. A LOT of difference in time, and time matters when in an emergency.
So it turns out that social networking is not all that bad. Of course there are many other pros and cons, I just felt like this was something to point out. I used Twitter as an example here, but all other social networks also contribute to spreading the news. It might seem as if I am stating the obvious, but sometimes the obvious needs to be stated in order to realize its importance!
We were talking about the influence of social networking in terms of spreading the news. I know that when it comes to news, I often find out whats happening through Facebook or twitter. Although the fact that I am not much of a news reader might come into play. But often cases have occurred when we all find out important information from come sort of social network.
As a general pattern, by personal observation humanity often spreads the "news" in ways that the communicate. First it was through word of mouth, then through books and writing, then newspapers, then media, and now social networks online.
So it turns out that social networking is not all that bad. Of course there are many other pros and cons, I just felt like this was something to point out. I used Twitter as an example here, but all other social networks also contribute to spreading the news. It might seem as if I am stating the obvious, but sometimes the obvious needs to be stated in order to realize its importance!
Interesting! Although i feel Reddit has a better purpose for this. Remember the incident where a man in an african nation took a machete to the face to protect an orphanage for kids? He had initially asked for $2000 and the reddit community managed to raise around $68000? What would you feel about reddit?
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, facebooka dn twitter played an important role during those crisis. But i still feel they take advantage of the power they have to do good things and use that in disguise to proceed with their evil doings lol! See: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_faces_nationwide_class-action_lawsuit.php
Although I am not a big Reddit user, I think it does serve a good purpose. However in this blog, I wanted to particularly aim at Twitter. The only thing I dont like about Reddit is its interface. The first time I went on it, I had no idea what to do. It was just a bunch of links. Some may claim that its for simplicity and ease of use, but there are ways to make it better.
DeleteAgreed that Facebook and Twitter do have secret evil deeds going on in the background, and I am not claiming that they are all good corporations. Its kind of like a never ending argument. There are good deeds and bad ones, that equally balance the world (got a little philosophical there lol)
Interesting positive story about reddit: http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/02/28/reddit-helps-man-cancer-harry-turtledove-book?hpt=hp_t3