According to Erin Bury, commentator for CTV News, “Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.” 

 

Social media accounts will post about something before it can even be deleted. It has now become society’s new source of the latest gossip, scandals, tragedies, etc. It is easy to access and hooks readers and watchers on very efficiently. Right when logging onto any of the social media apps, it’s very likely that viewers  immediately see the latest news on trending celebrities, like Kim Kardashian or Kanye West. What is even more alarming than the fact that celebs are the main topic, instead of world news, is the fact that even if information might not be true, many accounts will still post videos and pictures in hopes of going viral.

 

Let’s draw our attention to the recent claims that social media, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, have damaged the journalism industries, feeding their audiences with inaccurate information, for the sole reason that it might simply be more exciting or interesting than the normal news articles or channels.

 

Some may say that social media has become the current-day news. When people want to hear about the latest scandal involving their favorite celebrity, it’s not impossible to presume that they might just log onto twitter and search it up–even I, myself, am guilty of that. 

 

Instead of turning on the news in the morning, new generations can just go on their phone and use several different social-media platforms to access the news. Inevitably, kids are more likely to use their phones than search up an article and read it or turn on the news channel. 

 

For a real-world example, it seems that social media has almost taken over the incredibly tragic and disturbing University of Idaho murder case. Many different accounts are updating their audiences with new leads and suspects regarding the case, grabbing the attention of lots of people, not always ensuring that what the post is reliable and accurate. The question is, what is to come if this rate of spreading unreliable and inaccurate information continues?

 

Although older generations may still turn to articles or news channels, most kids will just use their social media apps to inform themselves on events happening around the world, without questioning their authenticity and accuracy. As time goes on, social media will soon take over the news industries, leaving people with information lacking any sort of integrity.