The Echo Chamber....

Is 'Social Media an asset or an intrusive addiction? Is the ability to instantly access this stream of unfiltered information an asset or simply spreading misinformation? As someone who could be said to be addicted to the internet but is not 'on' any 'social media' I have mixed feelings about whether having the world in your hand is a good thing or a path to misinformation.

With well over 90% of adult Canadians using the internet regularly in one form or another and about 80% of those 'on' Facebook or some similar platform it can be seen how quickly 'news' (good, bad, or simply wrong) can be spread.

According to a new Nanos Research survey for The Globe and Mail more than seven in 10 Canadians think Facebook does a poor or very poor job of monitoring how the platform is used to influence politics. It also found that more than eight in 10 Canadians think Facebook is untrustworthy or somewhat untrustworthy with people’s personal data. Also, more than six in 10 Canadians say Facebook will have a negative or somewhat negative effect on the next federal election.

Twitter trolls linked to suspected foreign influence campaigns stoked controversy over pipelines and immigration in Canada, according to a CBC/Radio-Canada analysis of 9.6 million tweets from accounts since deleted. Roughly 21,600 tweets from those troll accounts directly targeted Canadians — many of them with messages critical of Canadian pipeline projects and tweets that highlighted divisions over Canada's policies on immigration and refugees......

"While social media and digital platforms create forums that allow Canadians to engage in a dialogue about important issues, they also have a record of being manipulated to spread disinformation, create confusion and exploit existing societal tensions," said Amy Butcher, a spokesperson for Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould. "We expect [social media] companies to take concrete actions to combat manipulation."

And yet so many folks think everything they read there is gospel but as we have now found out there are those out there both foreign and domestic that would try to subvert our very democracy by spreading false information via these platforms. Even our own government is jumping on the bandwagon but how much of that content is unbiased 'information' and how much is self promoting spin is debatable.

Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter now take in the lion's share of federal advertising dollars, thanks to an ongoing increase in the use of digital advertising by government departments and agencies, new figures show. Of the $39.2 million spent on government advertisements last year, federal departments spent almost $18.2 million on digital ads — roughly 46 per cent of the total budget, which doesn't include production costs.

And, for the first time ever, social media ads made up the biggest slice of digital spending — 43 per cent, or roughly $7.8 million.

Make no mistake even this 'over 70 old fart' who is one of the very few NOT on social media but who is very much aware of its power is not advocating for ditching your cell phone but think that perhaps some of those platforms should come with the same sort of warning that comes with some other equipment “Danger extended use of Social media can set unrealistic expectations and create feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem”! . Finally there is little doubt that the outcome of our upcoming Federal election will be greatly influenced by 'millennials' who in turn will be greatly influenced by what they read on their smart phones, let us hope they are smart enough to not believe everything they read.

Millennials are also digital natives. We (they) grew up with technology and have made it a central part of our lives. To the 94% of millennials who own a smart phone, that device is our most trusted assistant. It’s our bank, our travel agent, our newspaper, our telephone, our music player, and our weather person. That device lets us watch the video content we crave, order food, and get us from one place to the next (by using the Uber app in many cities).
And to the 85% of Canadian Millennials who check Facebook at least once a day, social media is how we stay connected, find out what’s happening in the world, and increasingly the way we learn about and connect with brands.

The question is whether its the information age or the disinformation age?

 

Update

A British MP committee has just released a report that mirrors my concerns regarding Social media and Facebook in particular..

"Democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised 'dark adverts' from unidentifiable sources, delivered through the major social media platforms we use every day," concluded the report.

"The big tech companies are failing in the duty of care they owe to their users to act against harmful content, and to respect their data privacy rights."

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