[LINK] Gen Z is eroding the power of misinformation

[Stephen Loosley]

21 hours ago - Technology


Gen Z is eroding the power of misinformation

By Stef W. Kight  www.axios.com

https://www.axios.com/gen-z-is-eroding-the-power-of-misinformation-5940e3cd-e3d0-44a1-b66c-93be45fe1d2c.html


Gen Z may be more immune to the lure of misinformation because younger people 
apply more context, nuance and skepticism to their online information 
consumption, experts and new polling suggests.

Why it matters: An innate understanding of social media influence, virality and 
algorithms among Gen Z — defined by Pew as the cohort born between 1997 and 
2012 — could disarm the misinformation and disinformation racking the U.S.

Driving the news: 83% of Gen Z college students said they get the majority of 
their news from social media or online news sites, according to a new survey 
from polling firm College Reaction of 868 students provided exclusively to 
Axios.


  *   Despite it being their go-to source for news, young people are skeptical 
of social media. Just 7% said they found it to be the most trustworthy news 
platform.


  *   More than half said online newspapers or media sites were the most 
trustworthy, and 16% chose physical newspapers.

Younger people are confident in their ability to detect false information, but 
have little faith in older generations.


  *   69% of Gen Z students said it is somewhat or very easy for them to 
distinguish real news from misinformation.
  *   Half said they think it is "very difficult" for older generations.
  *   Studies have found the youngest American adults are far less likely to 
share misinformation online than are older Americans.
  *   "Young people are internet locals," College Reaction founder Cyrus 
Beschloss told Axios. "Because they swim through so much content, they're 
wildly savvy at spotting bogus content."

How it works: As the first generation to grow up with social media, Gen Z has 
an innate understanding of how to create and move online content, which makes 
them less susceptible to misinformation.


  *   Nearly half (46%) of college students said that they intentionally like, 
comment on or share content to train the algorithms to give them similar 
information and media.
  *   Most older generations — even millennials — don't always understand 
online influencer culture, the utility of hashtags or how to intentionally 
curate their feed.

The big picture: Misinformation and fake news won't go away with the next 
generation, experts said. But it will be far better understood.


  *   Most misinformation is just "influence and agenda-driven communications 
that older generations don’t understand," Jonathon Morgan, CEO of AI software 
company Yonder, told Axios.
  *   Boomers, Gen Xers and even some millennials often don’t know how this 
kind of information gets into their feeds. “They feel duped,” Morgan said, “And 
because they feel duped, they label it as misinformation and disinformation.”

What to watch: Gen Z is using its online savvy to advance its own values and 
priorities, said Jason Dorsey, author of Zconomy: How Gen Z Will Change the 
Future of Business.


  *   TikTokers and KPop fans, for example, pushed a campaign to reserve 
tickets for President Trump's Tulsa rally, but then never attend.
  *   The Instagram blackout in response to the killing of George Floyd was 
driven by young people, who also urged users to avoid using the hashtag 
#BlackLivesMatter in their captions to preserve educational information 
collected under the hashtag.

Gen Z has driven the transformation of Instagram into a social justice 
information and education hub.
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Re: [LINK] Gen Z is eroding the power of misinformation

[Karl Auer]

On Wed, 2020-09-16 at 09:23 +, Stephen Loosley quoted an article
that said:
> Gen Z is eroding the power of misinformation

A good thing. If true. Remaining comments directed at the writer of the
article, not you, Stephen.

The article is crap from beginning to end. Making expansive claims
based on essentially no real evidence.

> Why it matters: An innate understanding of social media influence

So the writer doesn't know what "innate" means, for a start.

> according to a new survey from polling firm College Reaction of 868
> students provided exclusively to Axios.

I.e. an extraordinarily small sample size for statements given the
breadth of the claims.

College Reaction (https://www.collegereaction.com) are *opinion
pollsters*. They gather opinion - exclusively *American* opinion."

And colour me curmudgeonly, but their website is on Wix. Yes, really.

Check out their "team" for three reasons why their ideas on the
thoughts of anyone over 25 might not be worth knowing.

> Younger people are confident in their ability to detect false
> information, but have little faith in older generations.

*Almost everybody* is confident in such abilities in themselves. Rather
as most people think they are better than average drivers. Confidence
is irrelevant. Test them.

>   *   69% of Gen Z students said it is somewhat or very easy for them
> to distinguish real news from misinformation.

"They said". How about actually *testing* their claim?

>   *   Half said they think it is "very difficult" for older
> generations.

"They said". It's testable - test it.

>   *   Studies have found the youngest American adults are far less
> likely to share misinformation online than are older Americans.

"Studies". Name one.

>   *   "Young people are internet locals," College Reaction founder
> Cyrus Beschloss told Axios. "Because they swim through so much
> content, they're wildly savvy at spotting bogus content."

A completely unproven and unsupported statement followed by a grossly
stupid hypothesis.

> How it works: As the first generation to grow up with social media
> , Gen Z has an innate understanding of how to create and move online
> content, which makes them less susceptible to misinformation.

An unsubstantiated and I suspect unprovable (and I also suspect -
probably wrong) hypothesis *at best*.

>   *   Nearly half (46%) of college students said that they
> intentionally like, comment on or share content to train the
> algorithms to give them similar information and media.

So why wasn't the take-away here that "more than half of college
students make no effort to influence what they are fed by social media
algorithmic advertisers"?

>   *   Most older generations — even millennials — don't always
> understand online influencer culture, the utility of hashtags or how
> to intentionally curate their feed.

"Most", "don't always"...

>   *   Most misinformation is just "influence and agenda-driven
> communications that older generations don’t understand," Jonathon
> Morgan, CEO of AI software company Yonder, told Axios.

Bold claim. Jonathon Morgan goes on my very, very long list of toss-
pots who I will make sure I never pay attention to again.

>   *   Boomers, Gen Xers and even some millennials often don’t know
> how this kind of information gets into their feeds.

Oh, "often". Very scientific.

>  “They feel duped,” Morgan said, “And because they feel duped, they
> label it as misinformation and disinformation.”

Wait on. It *is* misinformation and disinformation. That is the very
definition of misinformation and disinformation. And if they feel duped
by it, then that have correctly identified it as such, in spite of the
dreadful handicap of being over the age of twenty-three. Apparently.

The article itself is a perfect example of "influence and agenda-driven 
communications".

> What to watch: Gen Z is using its online savvy to advance its own
> values and priorities, said Jason Dorsey, author of Zconomy: How Gen
> Z Will Change the Future of Business.

Whereas the Chinese, the Russians - or heck, everybody else really - is
using their online savvy to do what exactly? Or do they just not have
any online savvy?

> Gen Z has driven the transformation of Instagram into a social
> justice information and education hub.

What? :-) A social justice and education hub?!? Have these guys *seen*
Instagram? lol...

This article is rubbish. It has not a single redeeming feature.

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~
Karl Auer (ka...@biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer

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Re: [LINK] Gen Z is eroding the power of misinformation

[Stephen Loosley]

Karl writes,


> This article is rubbish. It has not a single redeeming feature.


Haha .. yes agreed .. except for the one redeeming valuable that's
so true ... it sort of makes up for this naive young writer's fantasy?

Quote: 

> Why it matters: [An] understanding of social media influence, virality
> and algorithms among Gen Z — could disarm the misinformation and
> disinformation racking the U.S. 

Necessary .. and true?

Or better, it will need just such an understanding amongst everyone in
order to disarm the misinformation and disinformation racking the U.S.


Cheers,
Stephen



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