Social media allows everyone with an internet connection to be a journalist. With great power comes great responsibility.
One alarming trend of the shirking of this responsibility is that most people don’t even read the articles they share/retweet. It’s no wonder that UpWorthy writers must write 25 headlines before they arrive at the final version – it might be the only thing people read.
I remember when the terrorist attack happened in France last November. Beyond the typical social media shares, there were all kinds of social media shares of the terrorist attack in Kenya. Though well-intentioned, people were sharing it thinking it had just happened, even though the Kenyan attack actually happened 6 months prior.
We each can do our part to become a world that doesn’t get its news in 10-word headlines. While my mantra is “Think more, read less,” in this case, let’s think more and read more.