Social media is one of five primary sources for gathering news among college students

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Today's youth are increasingly relying on Internet-based technology to gather news but as survey data from Project Information Literacy highlights, word of mouth is still one of the most popular ways to learn about the latest happenings.

A yearlong study from Project Information Literacy reveals that 89 percent of US college students get at least some of their news during the preceding week from social media.

Of the five key pathways to newsgathering among college students, social media was the second most popular. Discussions with peers were the most popular way to receive news as 93 percent of respondents indicate. Online newspapers at 76 percent and news feeds at 55 percent were also common sources, as were discussions with professors at 70 percent.

Social media networks as pathways to news

Unsurprisingly, the world’s largest social network is also the top source for news. On a weekly basis, 71 percent of students said they get their news from Facebook. Snapchat was the second most popular option at 55 percent followed by YouTube at 54 percent. That’s a bit surprising as I wouldn’t have classified Google’s video sharing platform as a source for news but rather, an entertainment outlet.

Project Information Literacy’s study was based on survey data from nearly 6,000 students across 11 colleges and universities. Follow-up interviews were also held with 37 respondents and a Twitter panel of more than 135,000 college-age people was used to help frame the survey results.

What’s your medium of choice for gathering news? The Internet, television, print newspaper, friends and family, etc.? Feel free to share in the comments section below.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/77035-social-media-one-five-primary-sources-gathering-news.html

 

[kombu]

Imagine going to Snapchat to get your daily news. I say let's raise the voting age to 25.

 

[ShagnWagn]

Through word of mouth? Anyone play "telephone" in kindergarten? Teacher whispers a sentence to first child and then continue through the circle. The last kid ends up with something completely different. No wonder we have so many snowflakes. Newer generations are relying on each other. Then there is the whole fake news fiasco. Should there be large fines for companies spreading lies - essentially doing what they think the Russians are doing? Our own news companies are the real culprit.

 

[twistednips]

Lmao so the snowflakes of the previous generation were the ones who threw fits (among other things) at black kids trying to get an education or even drink from the same fountain :/

 

[davislane1]

"What’s your medium of choice for gathering news? "

Source material.

 

[Reachable]

"What’s your medium of choice for gathering news? "

Source material.

If by that you mean newspapers and television, and you trust it, then you're very naive.

Here's an example:

You're in Salisbury, England. One day news comes to you from three sources:

1. A friend tells you that he's just been in the center of town and he saw a man in his 60s and young woman passed out on a bench. Reliability: High. Your friend said what he saw and wasn't lying.

2. A reporter goes to the Chief of Police. The Chief says that the man is Sergei Skripal and the woman is his daughter visiting him and they appear to have been poisoned and they were taken for treatment. Reliability: High. He's just a cop, and in this case he's only authorized to relate what he saw.

3. A reporter goes to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister says that Skripal was a Russian spy who was jailed in Russia for communicating information to the West. He served eight years in prison and was released in 2012 in a spy swap, He was poisoned by Russian agents acting under the orders of the Kremlin and they used Novichuk, a deadly nerve agent developed by Russia. Reliability: The Pits. The accusations were made without the slightest bit of investigation and the symptoms and condition of the Skripals was nothing like that of nerve agent poisoning.

The public believes the third source because it provides more information, but it's all just propaganda, opportunistic propaganda.

And that's how the news is. (It's almost as bad in the U.S. and elsewhere.) The only place you stand a chance of getting some honest facts and analysis is on the Internet, and then only if you know where to look. Some Twitter accounts are a good source of links.

And lately those kinds of accounts are being banned.

 

[Bannhammer]

It's scary how much people rely on Reddit and Facebook for their news and how much the users are in denial about the quality of the information being served to them. Sites with persistent ID's are all full of one-sidedness, pseudoscience, vitriol and misinformation and if you rely on them to be informed you will never actually be informed!

In my experience Reddit is the worst offender in terms of users in denial.