For my final assignment in my Information Credibility in the 21st Century class, I wrote a paper examining social media as a source of news.

I tried taking a balanced look at social media and broke things down into three familiar categories: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I summarize each section below.

The Good

  • Social media gives us all a voice that can reach millions
  • Encourages a greater diversity of opinions
  • Leads to greater civic and political engagement

The Bad

  • Social media has made speed of journalism more important than accuracy
  • Social media has provided the mechanism for fake news to proliferate 
  • Studies have found that young people who spend more time on social media are more likely to be depressed 

The Ugly

  • Social media has opened the door to cyberbullying 

To read the full paper, please see it here.