We live in the age where the Internet is Big Brother –the all knowing and omnipresent. And it’s not just limited to Google. It's actually the social networking sites that feeds most of the netizens "information" at their clicking. In fact, according to Pew Research Center Facebook has become a driving force in the News arena - "Its role has evolved from a network for friends to share personal information to a way for people to share, recommend and link together all kinds of information, including news." The simple act of clicking "share" or "retweet" has made News into a social experience.
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| Image Source: http://www.journalism.org |
However, with this clicking, re-tweeting, sharing (which has somehow become an auto-response programmed in the body of netizens worldwide) comes the issue of truth and authenticity of the things we read online. In today's fact paced world, most of us have been spoon-fed with too much information. We want things concise, brief and easy to digest. Just look at Twitter's 140-character limit! And with this compression comes misinformation. In her article, Lian Nami Buan, talked about the problem of spreading unverified news and points to some examples. She also points out that it is not difficult at all to verify online information and suggests that "the first step to achieving a properly-informed cyber world: Read More."
What does it mean to Read More? It's taking time to read the entire article rather than settling for more often than not hugely controversial headlines. It's learning the real issues and not getting caught up with hearsays of your social grapevine. It's being responsible in creating and sharing information on the web.
Think before you click. Simple. Easy. Painless.
(You may read the complete article here: Read More: Why you should really click this link )
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Entry No. 16
Soleil Flores
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