Blog #1

Top 5 Sources of News Information

By: Meagan Flynn

March 22, 2021

Have you ever thought of your top news sources? Social Media? Newspaper? Just a local or national news station? There are more reliable outlets with specific news in order to view information a person is looking for. Personally, I never watch TV and I am always on my phone, so I look on social media for news these days. My father likes watching TV and grew up reading newspapers, so that is how he views news information. There are different sources for everyone, but below are my top 5 sources of news information:

 

Twitter has been available to anyone for 15 years. Celebrities, sports teams, politicians, and any ordinary citizen can "tweet" and send information to the world. I like to have notifications on my iPhone from twitter from my favorite celebrities and other people to hear news and what they have to say. Twitter is great for hearing specific, quick news which can be great for on the go. Personally, Twitter is not my favorite because there is a specific word count for tweets which can limit the information written, plus there are links to click on to take us to another news site which is time consuming; however, it is nice to just look down at the notification on my iPhone and read news information from a reliable account. 

Instagram is used for people to posts photos of anything they'd like for the world to see. I love Instagram because I can share pictures from my trips, school, home, and anything from my life. I can keep in touch with friends and see what their news is to share. Depending on who you follow, users will have the opportunity to find out news by seeing the picture and/or videos with the caption underneath. There are also notifications for easier access to news posts. I believe Instagram is more of a social outlet for friends to share news and not for politics or regular news stations. If people want to share their lives with pictures and/or videos, instagram is the news source for them. 

Facebook has been less popular over the years. There are older generations using this outlet these days. My parents are on Facebook daily. They give updates on their lives, wish people happy birthday, and like me, they see news ads. I only use Facebook to keep pictures in an album in one place and to see news. Everyday, I scroll to find out information in the world. When I am at school, I do not have cable to watch the news, so Facebook is how I find out news information. I specifically "like" reliable news outlets so that I can know how literal the information is. Many people of my generation do not like Facebook, but I find it helpful for present news information while there is not cable available. 

News stations, specifically the Today show and local news stations, always are on top of news. When I'm home, my mother always has the news on the TV as background noise. The local news station, 7 news, always gives news faster than any online media outlet. They'll cut into current programming to give news to the public. I find this the best news source if a viewer is looking for the fastest to find out information in the world. There are present updates, possibly from the actual scene and live updates, for the viewers. It is very reliable and we are aware it is truthful news. 

Lastly, Snapchat is a less reliable news source for politics, updates on the world, and more, but the site is working on updating this as soon as possible. I feel snapchat is great for personal updates and social life, but it is not great for a big variety of news. If you are looking to keep in touch with friends, Snapchat is perfect for you. I love it because I can see what my friends are up to while also getting in touch with people, but depending on subscriptions, I can view helpful life hints, funny memes, and anything relevant to my life and not much of the world itself.