Our Toxic Relationship with Social Media News
Print is dead and it’s not the only victim. Broadcast and radio are now on the way out as social media continues to tighten its grip on society’s attention. Social media poses a unique issue in the world of news, anyone can post at any time.
A 2023 Pew Research study shows that half of Americans get news from social media at least sometimes. However a significant portion of that group get their news from social media often (19%).
Despite the fact that so many people are getting their news on social media, people don’t trust it. A 2024 Pew Research poll shows that 40% of people’s least favorite thing about social media news is its inaccuracy.
Online news consumption is largely taking place on Facebook, almost one in three social media new consumers said they get their news on the site. Youtube and Instagram follow closely behind at 26% and 16% respectively. For younger generations another social media has taken the mantle.
“I would say that most of my friends get their news from Tik Tok,” Athen Hollis ‘24 said. Hollis is a political science major at Marist College. She also dabbles in reporting as a Media Team Producer for Marist Poll’s Poll Hub podcast.
Hollis highlighted a Tik Tok news show called Bikini Bottom News that features an animated fish from the children’s TV show Spongebob reading off headlines. She explained that the content presented on the show is very sensationalized and seems to be designed primarily to entertain rather than inform.
Professor Kevin Lerner, a journalism critic and historian, has also taken note of this social media news show.
“It's just like a rapid fire, Walter Winchell style,” Lerner said. “From what I understand it's about two thirds legitimate summaries of legitimate news and one third gossip and rumor with no source.”
Social media is so accessible. Lerner says there has always been inaccurate news, but it used to be much harder to have a veneer of legitimacy.
“Social media has this way of reducing everything to the same, right?” Lerner said. “A post from a large legitimate news organization looks exactly the same as a person who records themself on an iPhone with a ring light.”
Hollis has noticed this trend of inaccuracy as well.
“I don’t feel like the news on social media is accurate. Sure, there are accurate sources out there, but you have to do a lot of research to find them,” Hollis said. “I would say a lot of social media news is biased or inaccurate.”
It can be difficult to avoid social media news. We use social media to keep in contact with our friends and family. We use social media to unwind after a long day of work or school. According to Pew, the number one thing that Americans like about social media news is how convenient it is.
Although Hollis claims that she doesn’t get her news from social media, her habits tell a different story.
“I almost never get my news from social media unless it's a news site I follow on Instagram,” Hollis said.
This is an important distinction. Not all news on social media is coming from unreliable sources and inexperienced citizen journalists. This is a distinction Marist Professor Jeffrey Basinger wants to make clear.
“The vast vast majority of my students get their news on social media, but hopefully by the end of my class they realize they're actually often getting their news from legitimate sources, they're just being filtered through social media,” Basinger said.
Basinger sees social media as a large part of the future of reporting. Today he thinks there is very valuable information to be found from social media reporters.
“Social media is probably the face of journalism right now,” Basinger said. “I mean think about how much content we get from the war in Israel and Gaza. I think it's totally valid. I think that we should lean into it.”
This is a perspective that many young journalists share. Many legacy news organizations are downsizing, laying off workers, and not looking to take on any full time staff. The prospect of being able to do your own reporting on the internet can be a comfort to many journalism students like myself.
It is also possible to use social media as a reporting tool. Journalists can find sources on social media that they wouldn’t have been able to find otherwise. However this also has its downsides.
“Remember, when you're reporting, that social media is not a perfect mirror of life,” Professor Lerner said. “Anyone can be anyone online.”
Although social media might be the way forward for journalism, the financial benefits are not quite there yet.
“The problem is that the social media companies themselves benefit so much from all the hard work that journalists do,” Basinger said. “Then journalists don’t get the money that they deserve for the work that they're doing.”
At the moment, any large media conglomeration can take a journalist’s reporting and repackage it as their own post. Their byline might remain, but their revenue stream is lost.
Media companies also profit off of the bad news of the day making it difficult to find all of the important stories of the day.
“Somebody has to create a social media system that is amenable to a good and healthy news ecosystem,” Lerner said. “I'm not sure we really have that because the stuff that tends to go viral is the stuff that makes people angry.”
There are ways as a consumer to support journalists on social media and curate a news feed that is fairly accurate. The information is out there.
“Find legitimate sources of journalism, people being picked up by larger companies and follow their social media accounts,” said Basinger.
Social media news is changing everyday. One day social media may be the most ideal way to spread news.
“It's kind of engagement journalism. It’s like community journalism. You can think of new ways to communicate with the public and get their input.” said Basinger.
