Osama Bin Laden is dead, President Obama announced Sunday night. In a televised address to the nation Obama explained his death was the result of a U.S. operation launched today in Abbottabad, Pakistan, against a compound where bin Laden was believed to be hiding, according to U.S. intelligence. After a firefight, a small team of American forces killed bin Laden and took possession of his body, the president said.
But this isn't where I found out Bin Laden was dead. I found out... on Facebook.
According to Michael Liedtke of San Francisco, "Facebook is influencing what news gets read online as people use the Internet's most popular hangout to share and recommend content. That's one of the key findings from a study on the flow of traffic to the Web's 25 largest news destinations. The study was released Monday by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism" (Liedtke)
Between Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook-- it seems that people today are ignoring their televisions when it comes to important news; and why wait for your newspaper in the morning when you can simply refresh your Facebook newsfeed?
According to Doug Gross of CNN, "More Americans get their news from the Internet than from newspapers or radio, and three-fourths say they hear of news via e-mail or updates on social media sites, according to a new report. Sixty-one percent of Americans said they get at least some of their news online, according to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project".
In my opinion, there are ups-- but mainly downs when it comes to receiving your "news" from Facebook or Twitter. Yes, the information is constantly available and always streaming. Yes it is fast, easy, and fun-- as it becomes more of a forum, blog, or chat room with friends and family commenting and replying to information. However, it is also unreliable. In fact, when I saw in my Newsfeed that Osama Bin Laden was dead, I immediately turned on CNN to confirm it. Facebook may be quick, but it is not always accurate.
"Seventy-five percent of respondents said they get news forwarded through e-mail or posts on social networking sites, while 37 percent of online users said they've reported news, commented on a story or shared it on sites like Facebook and Twitter, the survey said. "To a great extent, people's experience of news, especially on the Internet, is becoming a shared social experience ... ," reads the report. "[T]he advent of social media like social networking sites and blogs has helped the news become a social experience in fresh ways for consumers"" (Gross).
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