Social Media as the Main Source of News

Introduction

The twenty first century can be characterized by one phrase – the era of digital technologies and Internet. The youth use the World Wide Web every day, hour and some of them even minute. Therefore, it is sometimes called the biggest addiction in the world as it is hard to refuse from it even for a day. Moreover, those ones who do not use the Internet are believed to be rebels or black sheep. Even older people who are rather conservative surf it due to its many advantages.
The U.S. is an information society where the Internet plays a crucial role. This is where people chat with each other, post their own news, read news, buy items, pay their bills and so on. In particular, 50% of Americans rely on social media as the source of information. However, it like a minefield since you never know what is in front of you: the truth or the lie.

The Main Disadvantage of Social Media

Social media is not a reliable source and it will never be like that. Owing to the fact that everyone can post anything there, it can be a lie or even something obscene. That is the main disadvantage of social media as it is impossible to verify the veracity of the vast amount of information posted in different social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many others. As a consequence, people that trust the resources under the consideration are often misinformed. Furthermore, it is difficult to find neutral information since everyone has his/her own opinion. It is more about “sharing their personal views and observations with others” instead of sharing laconic and neutral pieces of news. Thus, although searching for news is not the main activity of Internet users in social media, individuals daily consume a lot of uncertain information.
Advantages of Social Media
Despite the mentioned above drawback, social media as the source of information has many benefits. The first one is that Internet users can get the information directly from the pages of official persons such as politicians or stars. It is much better than learning news from TV shows, radio channels or print newspapers where the information is retold. One can consider it paradox but in some cases, the information in social media can be either uncertain or more valid than the one in other means of communication.
To continue, it has already been mentioned that the information shared in social media is not neutral. Nevertheless, it is better than facts presented on some TV channels or in printed media. It is not a secret that leading channels often tell news from some particular point of view. For instance, a lot of them identify themselves as followers of Democrats or Republicans. On the contrary, facts shared in social media are often not politicized that is another benefit of this means of communication.
The next advantage is the possibility to share information. Sometimes, there is something to say but there is no opportunity to do this. Social media is the best choice for people who are analysts but do not work in the news agency or for people who do not have enough money for the advertisement since news is not only the information about what is going on in the world. Ads also relate to news to some extent.
The last but not least benefit is the variety of information. There are so many different thoughts regarding some special events that each user can compare them and chose the closest for him/her. As opposed to social media, news agencies often offer only one or two points of view which makes social media very useful as it allows not be obsessed with opinions of other individuals.
News in Social Media
Searching for news in social media has become mainstream in the U.S., especially among the youth. About 50% of Americans rely on the given resource looking for the news. With this respect, the main feature of social media is that a person can find information accidently just by rolling the news feed in Facebook or other social network. It is different to other sources of news such as TV, radio and print media as in pursuit of new facts there, a consumer has to switch on a TV or radio channel or buy a special or regular issue of newspaper.
In addition, in the past, social media was the way out for those who did not have money to be heard on the TV, radio or read in print resources. Now, even leading news agencies try to promote themselves in social media, and it is a very wise choice of strategy since almost every citizen uses the given websites. That is why they can attract new target audience that was previously unreachable.
Hence, a lot of high-profile news agencies create their webpages in social media and advertise them. Consequently, users of social media can get instant and valid information in case they subscribe to it. This way, individuals searching for news can avoid misinformation by checking only verified Internet sources in. Finally, it is easier for a person to compare different news agencies in social media rather than on TV or radio.

Advertising in Social Media

In general, news is every piece of previously unknown information a person can get. Although ads do not teach anything and do not provide some useful facts, they still can be considered as news, especially in social media where even photos of someone are believed to be the ones. That is why many people and even companies place their ads in social networks because it is much cheaper and efficient than placing them in print production or on the radio. It is well-known that TV is considered to be the most popular way to reach the target audience in ads; however, it is the most expensive one meaning that social media can become a place for people of all ages and material security. For example, even a small girl that sells cats can use social networks to promote her “products”.
What is more, social media are even good for the economy of the country as small businesses are really significant for it. Cheap and easy access to the advertising in the Internet makes aids small companies to promote themselves or groups of people to set up their firms. There is no doubt that social media are space of possibilities. Everyone is equal there, and this feature makes them attractive for Internet users.
Therefore, social networks are used not only to share photos or posts with friends. It has been an important area for news agencies, advertising and people who want to be heard for the several decades or even years. 50% of Americans use them as the only source of news.

General Information in Social Media

News and advertising are not the only things that could be found in social media. There are many Internet pages that share information from scientific field, literature and others. Social pages with science facts are very popular, and people subscribe to them in pursuit of becoming smarter. Nevertheless, every person can lie, and even a photo can be a fake. That is the reason why social media cannot be consulted as sources in academic works.
Another problem with general information is quotes. Those are very popular among individuals, especially the youth. A lot of them like some quotes of famous people and tend to share them with friends in social media. However, it is unknown whether the source of the statement is reliable or not, and one can notice that it is a wide-spread problem that some quotes are attributed to one by mistake or on purpose. Thus, it is better to verify whether the quote still exists or not and whether it belongs to that person or not.
Therefore, people can find official pages of news agencies or renowned people and follow them since the information presented there is truthful. Nevertheless, Internet users should avoid trusting the general information in social media such as scientific facts or quotes and poems that belong to some author, and such kind of information should be properly verified.

Conclusion
Therefore, social media are used almost by every American citizen. Despite its major disadvantage that is misinformation, it has many benefits. An ordinary user can get an instant access to the variety of facts in such as news, general information and even advertisements. Moreover, there are many official pages of news agencies that provide individuals with accurate information. Small businesses and ordinary people can place their ads cheaply or for free. Famous people and politicians tweet information and news that are true and useful for social media users. Therefore, social media are a revolution in the sphere of news, and probably, in the future, it will replace TV, radio and print sources.

The article was written by professional writer Eshley Durst, more her papers you can find at https://cheap-papers.com/problem-solving-essay-writing-service.php