In 'When Worlds Collide':
Navigating the Minefield of Social Media (2014, June 9), Rothbard claimed that
the 'inherent paradox' of social media as 'social minefield' is due to the
fact that 'social media has so many amazing opportunities to connect, to enhance relationships and to build new
relationships.' I agree that social media does offer many opportunities to
allow people to communicate and socialise via means of social networking sites
such Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You get to use the functions from the
websites to start a group chat, sharing images about your life, catching up on
your favourite celebrities, international news and more.
However, the nature of
social media being widespread and possibly 'anonymous', such opportunities may
be abused and taken advantage by people. These people are the ones who
intend to make use of social media to prey on people who are seemingly 'weaker'
on the Internet. For instance, there is an increase in number of criminal cases
committed online in 2014, just in Singapore alone (Singapore Police Force,
2014). Therefore, I do not agree with Rothbard (2014) that social media is
all about being able to make new friends, interacting with people online. These
are just the benefits that social media can offer rather than looking at the
big picture where the problems cannot be ignored.
The issue of creditability
of the content posted on social media has always been a problem for
readers because it is almost impossible to have articles that is completely
unbiased. The writers' own perceptions, stereotypes and other inducing factors
can alter the views of the writers, which results in articles that leaned
towards a certain stand. There are also articles that does not report facts but
rather speculate false information for various purposes, such as gaining more
readers, to get more earnings when people click on the site. During the
disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines jet, MH370, there are websites claiming that
it has been found where in fact, there was no news about the jet (Peptone,
2014). Many people believed what the articles wrote was true and even shared
the websites on their own social networking sites until the Malaysian
government came out to prove it otherwise. Not only does it affect the victim's
families and friends by lifting their hopes up, it also causes
suspicion around users online for being an accomplice by
sharing false information online.
Ever since the rise of social media, we have seen
more occurrences of terrorist groups making use of it to spread propaganda
and public threats. As mentioned before, creditability is a problem and
precisely because most users online cannot differentiate between true and
false, terrorist groups are able to tackle through this loophole. The infamous
Al-Qaeda is known to make use of media strategies as means to achieve his
ideals (Canadian Centre for
Intelligence and Security Studies, 2007). There are also other terrorist groups
that use social media to induce fear and pressure on the public and
governments. The recent Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIS) events on
beheading of the two Japanese and burning of the Jordanian pilot, saw the ISIS
uploading the videos online for the government and public to view it. (MailOnline,
2015). Therefore, social media can also be a tool for terrorism as long as
creditability is still an issue.
On the personal level, social media does improve relationships
between people online. However, on the global scale, there are many more
possible problems arising from the use of social media that may affect our
daily lives. The lack of credible sources causes suspicion and unhappiness
among people along with use of social media by the terrorists; it is definitely
more difficult than ever to make use of social media to
interact especially it is not as easy as it used to be. Rothbard's
(2014) idea of a paradox is merely just a sweeping statement by relating
social media on a personal level. Instead, a more comprehensive understanding
of the ways social media can affect a person would be needed.
References:
Singapore Police Force | Statistics |
Annual Crime Brief 2015. (2015, January 29). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from
http://www.spf.gov.sg/stats/crimebrief2015.html
Pepitone, J. (2014, March 9). Social
Media Spread False Reports of Safe Landing. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-jet/social-media-spread-false-reports-safe-landing-n48081
Al Qaeda: Propaganda and Media Strategy.
(2007). Retrieved February 8, 2015, from
http://www.itac.gc.ca/pblctns/pdf/2007-2-eng.pdf
Hall, J., Robinson, J., Wyke, T.,
Cockroft, S., & Williams, D. (2015, February 4). Jordan executes ISIS
jihadists: Female suicide bomber among two put to death in dawn hangings in
retaliation for terrorists releasing video of pilot being torched to death in
cage. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2938199/Burned-alive-cage-ISIS-release-video-claiming-horrifying-murder-captured-Jordanian-pilot.html
About the quote, you mentioned the paradox but didnt include the latter half about the challenges in managing relationships, so i feel that it didnt capture the part about the minefield. Rothbard's paradox was that social media lets us connect to many people but it then makes it more difficult to manage all these relationships. Im not sure if this links with your point.
ReplyDeleteI see that your stand is how social media isnt all good due to credibility(not creditability) issues, but the thesis is too long. You seem to have started on a reason as well in the 2nd paragraph.
Perhaps it would be better if you could support your claims in para 3 about biased writing.
The article is also over the word limit (600 including summary) and there are a few grammar mistakes in tenses and verb form.
It was a good read though, credibility is a big issue in news today. I find it annoying to see clickbait articles in my newsfeed as well.
Hello! These are the problems i find in your essay
ReplyDelete1) In your 1st paragraph, is "Such as facebook..." Just correct it will do!
2) In first paragraph you agree that social media does offer many opportunities..., then your second paragraph should be something on the what you have agreed with. After that you have a point that you disagree with Rothbard about benefits that social media can offer..., the your essay continue. Perhaps this will be better or else you dont have something to support what you have agreed
:D Hope my suggestion is useful!