Are we finally going to place special laws for Twitter in our law books? To help protect sources? In this day and age, that is a definite possibility – but does it make sense? Twitter is a SOCIAL media outlet, keyword: social. Journalist should not use it as a truly accurate and reputable source because anyone can hack a Twitter account and post information. Or friends can hack the account for fun. Even direct messaging isn’t a safe and accurate source. I guess it bothers me that it is something that we even have to address. Anything posted on Twitter is fair game, it can’t be said that its private. I agree that sources should not receive anonymity but I also don’t think that they should even be taken as sources.
Think about it this way, by allowing people to provide sensitive information or even just spilling dirt via Twitter, how can you honestly trust that it’s the person you think it is? Just last week my friend left his account open on his computer and his roommates went in and changed everything on his Twitter account. Sure, it’s a far-fetched concept, but they could have contacted a journalist and said they knew someone who had information concerning the recent shooting the Congresswoman. People lie all the time. All I am saying is I don’t think Twitter should be considered a legitimate source with anonymity because it is a SOCIAL media outlet. There is no way to tell who is being honest and who is just messing around. I know, journalist need to research what sources say anyways. But I would not want to search out something only to determine it is false.
Twitter contacted people about the Wikileaks and informed them their information was being requested by the government. Sure social media is accessible now, but in five years, it could be outdated and untouched, overshadowed by another “in trend.” Why did the government even need to contact Twitter? The United States Government should be able to just check the Twitter accounts themselves. I guess it just irks me that Twitter is given this new special treatment when really, it is just like Facebook or Myspace: for social purposes.
Link: In a social media age
Link: In a social media age
I definitely agree with you- Twitter, or any social media outlet for that matter, should be trusted as reliable source.
ReplyDeleteI like to think of Twitter like a tabloid, it has information, people can write for it but it's not to be taken as legitimate information. Although some of the information may be true, a fact check will be in dire need.
Why the government would want to "get in contact" with Twitter is beyond me; the internet cannot be tamed in my opinion.