There are currently 3.96 billion people using social media, with more and more joining every day. At some point, we have to begin to wonder how our digital life is affecting the world around us. 

One of the biggest things that has been impacted by social media is news and how fast information can spread. At the click of a button, information from news sources can be retweeted, liked, or republished. This gives people instant access to news stories, not only in America, but from across the globe. It also broadens the definition of “news source”.

On May 25, 2020 a video of Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer, pinning an unconscious George Floyd to the ground was posted to the internet. This video was very quickly spread across the nation and sparked a huge wave of Black Lives Matter protests. Almost instantly on social media, videos were seen of people participating in the peaceful protests and also the violent riots. Due to the amount of attention these posts received, more awareness was brought to other recent police related murders. This chain of events sparked the civil rights movement of the 21st century. 

On Jan. 4, 2020 the World Health Organization reported information on social media about a pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China. A day later on Jan. 5, WHO published the first Disease Outbreak News article on the new virus and symptoms. On March 11, WHO categorized COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tik Tok, etc. all filled with information regarding the virus. Even if you didn’t watch the news, you would know everything you needed to because of social media. 

Social media has changed how the world operates. We have the ability to get instant news right on our cell phones or computers. This can be positive or negative. Social media can quickly keep the public informed about what is happening around us, but sometimes news on social media can be contradictory, misleading, and even wrong, which is why we have to know how to validate information and check for fake news.