Social Media and Truth

The truth is a tricky thing in social media.  We would assume that the truth is simply that, the truth, but with millions of opinions and thousands of (so-called) experts the truth can be interpreted and many ways.  My assignment to learn something new using social media was a success and failure.  I found out about a lot of new things going on with my friends on Facebook; a friend from high school just got married, my cousins baby is due in September and she's having a boy.  I went to Twitter to see if there was something to learn there and most post were about attending the BET awards.  Checked out LinkedIn and read a couple of 2014 trends in social media which all seem true because of what I see when I check out different sites.  I didn't research further because I believe socialmediaexaminer.com to be a reliable site and all of the examples in the article can be found on popular websites.

I don't go to social media sites to research information or find out information that would be important to anyone other then me.  I go to my Facebook account to see what my friends are doing, Twitter to see what celebrities are doing and LinkedIn to see what people in my field are talking about.  None of that, to me, is intentionally searching for news updates and solid truths; but, there are times when social media does provide that for me.  There are always celebrity RIP post, which aren't always reliable, but social media may be the first time you hear about someone's passing.  I said that learning something new through social media was a success, in that I found out a lot of new information; but it was also a failure because I didn't find out anything I can concretely say was the truth through statistics and chronicled research.  I cannot say that social media is a good resource to use when looking for credible information but it's probable that you will find out things first through social media and then it is up to you to confirm that the information is correct.

Influence of the Media

There are the social media crackheads who always need their fix, their is the social drinker crowd who only respond to interesting posts or post for Birthdays and special events and then there are those who feel social media is too evasive and don't participate at all outside of owning the newest cell phone on the market.  I am a bit of an oxymoron, I rarely communicate through social media but I have set up accounts in all popular social media outlets and I just got a job where I will need to use all forms of media outlets on a daily basis.  The only form of new media I currently use daily is email (if that is even considered new media), I don't have a smart phone but I do have a cell phone that I use daily as well.  With my new job I see that I will have to do a lot of catch up to be successful in my field.

I know I will never become the social media crackhead because I like my me time.  My kids get kicked out of my room if they over stay their welcome.  I do not believe social media has changed my perspective on daily activities.  Don't get me wrong, I scroll through Facebook just as much as you do but I can go months without posting anything.  I can say that I do add others post to my timeline which makes it look like I am more involved on Facebook then I truly am.  This will change only because my career demands it, I can't say if it will make me post to my personal accounts more or if I will only post for clients.  I do not believe that being exposed to social media more often will result in negative influences but my background in Communications might help me decipher what to take interest in and what to discard.  My new position will open me up to so much more information but because it is professional I still think most of the images, articles and post I come in contact with will practice ethical guidelines when publishing information.  Only time will tell.