Most Americans are wary of social media companies’ role in delivering news.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center highlights a pessimistic nation, suspicious of social networks’ control over information.
More than 60 percent of respondents say the firms have “too much” authority over the mix of reports they see. Just 15 percent said they don’t have enough.
It’s no secret that platforms like Facebook and Twitter control the content on their feeds using algorithms that rank and prioritize posts tailored to the interests of each user.
And while Silicon Valley execs claim these efforts are meant to enhance the news experience, most Americans maintain they just make things worse.
A majority of people (82 percent) believe that social networks favor some news organizations—specifically, those that produce attention-grabbing articles, have a high number of social media followers, and show a certain political stance—over others.
Which they do.
According to Pew, most companies have established policies that prioritize certain news sources and ban or limit others, and use monetization to discourage particular behaviors.
But despite our mistrust, social media constitutes an increasingly large portion of the U.S. news diet.
More than half of polled adults “sometimes” get news from social networks—up from 47 percent last year; 28 percent said they check it “often”— up from 20 percent in 2018.
I admittedly open Twitter before the dedicated news apps on my phone, and often learn about the latest scandals via Instagram Stories rather than TV broadcasters.
Twitter and Facebook have, somewhat ironically, been making headlines lately for new approaches—hiding posts, exempting specific users—that many worry will only further censor what we see.
Americans, however, seem more concerned with the overall low quality of news available online: About half of U.S. adults say one-sided news (53 percent) and inaccurate news (51 percent) are big problems.
Facebook is far and away the most popular social media site for news; about half (52 percent) of the nation gets information there.
But taking a break from the service—and its uneven coverage—could be good for your health.
A new study from Texas A&M University and Ecuador’s Universidad de las Americas found that U.S. undergraduate students who logged off of Facebook for a week consumed less news and experienced greater wellbeing.
To be fair, this sounds like a doom-and-gloom problem, rather than a social network concern: When half the participants took a Facebook break, they didn’t substitute traditional media for digital news.
They also reported more “healthy behavior”: eating out less, making fewer impulse purchases, more efficiently managing time, etc.
“Our results suggest that using Facebook induces feelings of depression,” the researchers said.
It remains unclear, though, whether that’s the product of a more healthy lifestyle, or simply reading less news.
More on Geek.com:
- Google Wants to Teach Kids About Phishing, Fake News
- Facebook ‘Exempts’ Politicians From Fact Checking
- Facebook’s New Page Initiatives Aim to Crack Down on Fake News
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