Journal Study Review #1

Dan Solecki

EDU 6210

Journal Entry #1

Citation:

Karlis, John V.  (2013). That’s News To Me:  An exploratory study of the uses and gratifications of current events on social media of 18-24 year-olds. UMI Dissertations Publishing.  Retrieved from ProQuest.  DOI: 3593104

REVIEW OF THAT’S NEWS TO ME:  AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE USES AND GRATIFICATIONS OF CURRENT EVENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA OF 18-24 YEAR-OLDS

Summary:

The study I reviewed focused on the use of social media to obtain information on news and current events.  The study, published in 2013, was intended to get to the root reasons why 18-24 year-olds used social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, as a source of current events and information.  896 college students who were avid users of social media were surveyed.  The survey found that there were five main reasons why respondents chose a social media outlet as their source of information:  to seek information, guidance, social interaction, voyeurism, and entertainment (Karlis, 2013).    The study then went on to define exactly what would be categorized as news and current events at length.  It is pointed out, “As more news outlets and sources of information become available in the era of social media, the terms current events or news become more obtuse and difficult to define” (Karlis, 2013).  Karlis goes on to cite prior research from Goldberg (2002) and Alterman (2003) regarding media bias in order to support his claim. 

This study sheds light on a major trend of information seeking.  More and more, it seems as though people are turning to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites for their information.  I-Reporters flood CNN with personal, eyewitness stories of world happenings.  Sports fanatics turn to Twitter to find out the latest news about their favorite teams and athletes.  People scour YouTube for video of pretty much anything.  I even follow several community pages on Facebook in order to stay informed about local news and weather.  These are just a few examples of social media and how it is used as a source of information, but they really do provide a window into how people utilize it to stay informed.

Reflection/Application: 

In my opinion, there are three reasons why people turn to social media over more traditional outlets for their information.  First, the use of these media outlets is conveniently accessible, especially if one has a smartphone.  One can simply open an app or webpage and have whatever one wants at his or her fingertips.  Second, social media is updated much more instantaneously than traditional outlets, such as anchored television news.  For instance, if a major event occurs, the first thing many people do is whip out their phones and either take a video of the event and post it online or go right to Twitter or Facebook and post an update about it.  One just has to think about how quickly things go “viral” to understand this phenomenon.  Third, and again this is just my opinion, social media seems much less biased and uncensored than traditional media.  Those who post truly seem to take advantage of their freedoms of speech and press to inform whoever accesses their information.  In many cases, a simple Facebook post about an event will spur spirited debate or outcry. 

From an education standpoint, the use of social media as a source of current events is a great tool.  Students can be encouraged to turn to Facebook, Twitter, or other sources to find out the latest happenings from around the world 24/7.  As a History teacher, I would encourage my students to search these venues for information and bring what they find back to class for discussion.  Activities, such as current event journaling or argumentative writing, could be designed around the news that they find through the use of social media.  Most importantly, encouraging or requiring students to use social media as a news source will keep them informed about what is going on in the world because they like using things like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter; without them, students may be oblivious to what is going on in the world around them.