The article I chose to evaluate the sources of is about social media bots and how individuals as well as organizations are using them to create a perception of popularity and influence. This article is from the New York Times, which is widely accepted as a credible source and is a well-known and world-renowned news site. The author, Nick Bilton, has published 1082 articles in the New York Times, and has his own website, www.NickBilton.com. Nick is associated with the New York Times and has his New York Times contact email listed, as well as his Twitter handle. He is obviously widely published with the New York Times, but is also about to release a book that he wrote, which means he does have publications in peer reviewed situation. Based on all this author information, it seems safe to say that Nick Bilton is a credible source in the areas of technology and business, specifically related to social media topics.
In this particular article, there appears to be no bias or outdated information, which also lends to the credibility of the article as well as the author. Most of the sourcing for this article was first hand from the author, but there were also cited sources and quotes from Tim Hwang, chief scientist at the Pacific Social Architecting Corporation. A link to their website is provided, confirming that Tim Hwang is associated with their organization, and providing information to prove the credibility of the organization itself.
Based on the number, credibility, and up-to-date status of all of the sources in and relating to this article, it's safe to say that this is a credible piece of information and that the author of this piece uses proper sourcing and is expert enough in this field to report on the subject.
SOURCES:
http://timhwang.org/2013/05/17/pacific-social-architecting-corporation/
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/friends-and-influence-for-sale-online/?ref=business
http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm
http://www.nickbilton.com/
Only a few decades ago, Americans took most of their information from traditional news media such as television news broadcasts and newspapers. People took this information at face value and didn't feel the need to audit the stories they were given. With the introduction of the internet later came the rising popularity of social media sites. These sites made it easy for anyone with internet access to share anything they like. Since there is no filter on who can share information and how factual the information must be, internet users now have to take the content they see with a grain of salt. It used to be that we knew what we knew based on what other told us, but today we must avoid clerkism, "the practice of uncritically accepting the official version of things" (Kovach, Rosenstiel 2010, p. 27). We now must search for what we know to ensure the information is correct. We must take in content, fact check with a credible source, and check those supporting facts with another source to fully ensure credibility. This falls in line with the Way of Skeptical Knowing questions listed on page thirty two of Blur (2010). These questions help validate information and demonstrate that media consumers must now transition from "trust me" to "show me" (2010, p. 33).
Social media has grown to be a large part of the media information stream in this digital age, and lends even more to the idea of easy-to-publish content. Americans from preteen years and up are now largely and actively participating on social media sites. I use social media sites regularly for both entertainment and gathering information. From a news perspective I generally use the social media site Reddit, which is a forum style social media site where users can sort through categories of user created posts. Today on the World News section of Reddit, there was a post of a link to a New York Times article about the Presidents statements about specific N.S.A. activity. I believe the article is factual because the New York Times is known to be a credible source and is cited regularly in scholarly articles and presentations. The article also links to a live video of part of the conversation that is discussed in the article. Similar articles are also posted on several other news sites. Social media can certainly be a credible source for information, however it's important to check sources to be sure of the credibility.
Kovach, B. & Rosenstiel, T. (2010) Blur: how to know what's true in an age of information overload. Bloomsbury USA. Print.
As a 21 year old in a digital age, I use new media daily. When I wake up in the mornings, I check my Twitter and Instagram feeds. On my way to work I use Pandora and YouTube for music during my commute. When I get to work I'm constantly using social media sites, and different traditional and mobilized websites to evaluate the current marketing program of my clients so I can make a recommendation on how they should market their business going forward. I also use Facebook to stay in touch with family and friends on a weekly basis.
Using social media has given me a fuller connection to hundreds of people in the way that I often times know what the people I connect with on social media are doing, who they are with, what job change they just went through, the new puppy they just bought, or any update in their lives that they chose to share on social media. Although I'm more aware of events in more people's lives, I feel that it's a more artificial connection. These messages aren't personalized to me and I rarely start an interaction based on someone's post unless I'm already very close with that person. Social media makes me feel more included in more things, and gives me a sense that I need to be updated with these people that I subscribe to. I constantly have new information to sort through, which makes me feel impatient when I go through all of my Twitter or Instagram feed. I now feel like I demand content, even though I'm not fully engaging with the content I have. I quickly sort through whether something is important to me or worth spending time to read and understand fully. In summary, I feel that the constant access to information has caused me to learn to filter through all of the information I receive on a daily basis in a quicker and less thorough manner.
Since I don't follow the news very much I'm less affected by the agendas that the news groups have when reporting. I do feel that technology has made me less patient, which is a negative influence. It does, however, give me a chance to voice my opinions to an audience of my peers. This is positive because it enhances my communication skills. It allows me to be a contributor on a higher level, and also has resulted in "the ability of people to engage in discussions and to get additive knowledge and perspectives is... better that in was" (Gladstone 2012).
Gladstone, B. (2012, February 17). The changing nature of knowledge in the internet age. On the Media. Retrieved from http://www.onthemedia.org/story/187775-changing-nature-knowledge-internet- age/transcript/.
