Social media has allowed everyday citizens to become authors, editors, and publishers of news and information. Do you believe that social media has increased the quality use and information or decreased it?

 

Here, we go again I do not believe that the quality of news and information has increased or decreased. I think that the news and information itself has increased, as far as quality it is up to the reader to decide whether his or her sources are reliable. I’m one of those people that enter into his vehicle, and the first thing that comes on after the vehicle is turned on is AM 680, a radio news station. Yes, of course I use the Internet to check out different stories or news that I find intriguing. I never take what I read at face value without doing my own research through credible sources of course. Through a little research of my own,  I found out that the two main sources of information in an emergency situation is Facebook and twitter. I also found the following article engrossing and included the website below my blog. “Those who are still skeptical about the value of Twitter for real-time situational awareness during a crisis ought to ask why terrorists likely think otherwise. In 2008, terrorists carried out multiple attacks on Mumbai in what many refer to as the worst terrorist incident in Indian history, the terrorists in question used social media for coordination and decision-making purposes.”

 I think by now people have realized that I have mixed emotions concerning social media, Facebook and Twitter. I want to share a personal story with everyone. A good friend of mine was involved in a serious accident in a major intersection of downtown Toronto, about five years ago. It was not long after the collision that pictures flooded the Internet, and then came the comments. “This gentlemen is an alcoholic, and now caused somebody severe injuries,” this is only one comment that was posted by one person who was an acquaintance of my good friend. These pictures that were posted by these so-called authors, editors, and publishers or whatever you would like  to call them, I personally call them people with too much time on their hands. The pictures depicted the accident with debris everywhere empty beer bottles littered the intersection broken glass everywhere it was a horrific scene. A police investigation began, and lawyers were hired. What had happened, was the person in the pickup truck ran a red light T-boned my friends vehicle causing his death upon impact. The force of impact was so severe that the pickup truck literally flipped over spreading it's load of empty beer bottles all over the intersection. Here is a man who had a lot of personal issues, and persevered through life and because of his past people figured they could be authors and post damaging comments about him on the Internet. I do not have to tell you guys the effect that these comments had caused his family, the legal battles that they had to go through to clear his name. It was not my friend who caused the accident it was actually a drunk driver but not my friend. Nobody knew that he was attending “AA” meetings for the past two years and had been sober for 18 months, only his family knew and a couple of his closest friends. Remember what you post might be news to you but could be extremely damaging to someone else. Please use discretion when posting news or info on the web, remember that social media plays a particularly crucial role in today’s society. The news-worthiness and credibility of the information conveyed on various sites is left to the reader to verify the source of information.

Like the saying goes buyers beware, or in this instance readers beware.

            May your soul rest in peace my good friend, you are missed tremendously.

Source: http://irevolution.net