Conversation 3: Stories on Social Media

Summary

“Misinformation and biases infect social media, both intentionally and accidentally” by G.L Ciampaglia & F. Menczur identifies and explains the different types of biases that make the social media ecosystem vulnerable to both intentional and accidental misinformation. Bias in the brain, bias in society and bias in the machine are the three types of biases these authors have researched. Bias in the brain: Originate in the way the brain processes the information that every person encounters every day. Our brains can deal with only a finite amount of information, and too many incoming stimuli can cause information overload. Bias in society: When people connect directly with their peers, the social biases that guide their selection of friends come to influence the information they see. Bias in the machine: Arises directly from the algorithm used to determine what people see online.

Response

I get most of my information through the use of social media. I personally think that social media is the main source of material where we all get information from. Whenever I do learn something important, I always fact check it. It’s kind of a habit of mine, and I think that everyone else should do the same. While playing the game Fakey, I pretty much clicked the button “Fact-Check” for each and every one of the stories given. It did bring down my score, which I thought to be ridiculous, as fact checking is something that one should always do no matter what. Regardless, I still had fun playing the game.