Is Social Media a Dependable Political Source?

People who are using social media drastically increased for the past several years. The growth in social media usage is strongly felt among developing countries. As a matter of fact, across the 11 emerging nations that were surveyed for the report, 28 percent of adults said that social media is an integral part of their routine to keep up with political news. Then again, some are using it for other purposes such as buying digital orders like D2 items or even groceries for their home.

Impact of Social Media to the General Public

Big percentage of social media users in majority of these countries said as well that they are frequently seeing articles. These contents have shown them new ideas that they never thought were possible before.

Not only that, opinions are also divided with regards to bias, hatred and reliability of social media content. This is far from the contents shown and distributed from other sources.

Also, when asked about the types of materials they have encountered on their profile, most of them said that the contents are frankly untrue, fake or creating a negative atmosphere about parties opposing them.

Why Few Trust or Fully Depend on Social Media?

Even though social media is mainstream in both developed and emerging countries, 4 out of the 11 nations surveyed have its citizens say that social media platforms are critical tool for getting political information.

Everyone said that social media are crucial to help them stay updated with political news in their nation and also, to what is happening in the rest of the worlds.

In each and every country, fewer people are in favor that social media is an integral tool to keep them up-to-date with political happenings. The reason why this is what happening is that, social media empowered average folks to share their own opinions. Aside from that, it has given them the capability to make contents that side their beliefs. Thus, the end result is biased and one-sided story that creates confusion among those who are not internet-savvy and naïve to just believe in what they read online.