Reporters rely on credible sources. It’s what makes the fourth estate work. But what happens when the line between credible news and fake news blurs – as it does now? A recent study by Pew Research Center on News Use Across Social Media Platforms (2017) shows that the number of people who rely on social media for their news is on the rise. The whole study is worth a read, and no doubt that we will be revisiting it in future posts, but for now let’s focus on Facebook. Facebook

We’ve all heard a version of this riddle: A father and his son are in a car accident. The father dies instantly, and the son is taken to the nearest hospital. The doctor comes in and exclaims "I can't operate on this boy." "Why not?" the nurse asks."Because he's my son," the doctor responds. How is this possible? While outdated (and blatantly sexist – but that’s for another post…), this riddle is all about assumptions. We all have them - but many of them are just wrong. What’

Social media makes it easy to be polarizing. Black or White, Yes or No, Republican or Democrat. Often, there is little room for nuance, context and thoughtful discourse. As the “virtual” iteration of who we are, social media often gives us a one-dimensional look at ourselves and our “friends.” Let’s look at an example. Sue may have expressed support for Hillary Clinton on her Facebook page. To many, that one “thing” about Sue can tell you many other things about her (she is p

This election season has brought to light a particularly virulent strain of fake news. It’s true that people promoting fake information is as old as time, but the internet has made it easy for anyone to create social media profiles and websites in order to post whatever they want under the guise of “journalism.” In a disturbing study by BuzzFeed, they found that fake election news outperformed legitimate news on Facebook. Apparently, this is the new normal for news. The debat

We hear this term a lot – especially in the last few months because of the U.S. presidential election. With our country more polarized than ever, many find solace in interacting with like-minded groups or what we like to call them at VISVA, those with Collective Sentiment. All too often we hear things like “oh John is a good guy, but we just can’t talk politics.” This self-sorting is happening all the time. Using “John” as the example, let’s take this one step further. Maybe

With over 243 million unique visitors (in a given month), from over 200 countries and millions of user accounts, there could be some truth to their claim, “Reddit The Front Page of the Internet.” Reddit is full of images, tons of topics, discussions, opinions and just about everything you can think of. Its diversity and variety attracts individuals from a wide demographic range (a lot of - males 18-24) and geographic locations, making it one of the most powerful social forums