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The immediacy of the social media seems to be drawing the audience, but what is lost in the translation? News takes time to gather, vet, and verify. So our demands for instant information would seem to be conflicting with the process of newsgathering. This piece showed that 49 percent of respondents had heard or seen a news item that turned out to be false. If we are to continue to absorb information that comes our way so quickly, at what point does credibility, authenticity, and factuality no longer apply? Worse yet, how many people will begin to remember some piece of news they saw online that is false without even realizing the error? How might this impact our own historical remembrance? Hmmmmm....

Stephen Marche wrote this piece for the Atlantic Monthly, arguing that Facebook (used here as an umbrella term for most, if not all, social media platforms) is responsible for an increase in loneliness and a contributor to "social disintegration."

we discussed this 5/1/12 issues of access, identity via mediations

Slate's Eric Klinenberg responds to the Atlantic Monthly's story, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" His response focuses on more of the research evidence refuting some of the assertions made in Marche's original article--including some of the quotations Marche pulled from Klinenberg's book on the rise in number of people living alone. Also, participants on the most recent Slate Culture Gabfest (a weekly podcast series, which I highly recommend) discussed both the original article and response. Available for download on iTunes or streaming:  http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/culturegabfest/2012/04/rupaul_s_drag_race_facebook_and_loneliness_and_the_legacy_of_dick_clark_on_slate_s_culture_gabfest.html?tid=sm_tw_button_toolbar via

The article John mentioned in class today

Youth and social networking as mentioned in class: http://dmlcentral.net/newsletter/05/2012/analytical-take-youth-social-networking-and-web-20-few-moments-amanda-lenhart