Weisel: Facebook good news source

It’s been said that no news is good news, but I’d say that any news is better than no news. It’s been said that no news is good news, but I’d say that any news is better than no news. In a society that relies on at least a basic knowledge of current events, we can’t afford to be uninformed — even if our information comes from a source like Facebook.

According to Facebook statistics, the site currently hosts more than 800 million users, and more than 50 percent of those users log on every day. And every day millions of users post millions of words and pictures and links to communicate information to the other millions of users.

When scrolling through your news feed on your Facebook homepage, you bombard yourself with news. From posted links about international news to personal updates from your friends, the news is conveniently listed in one accessible source to be seen at any given moment.

Hitwise analyst Heather Hopkins reports that Facebook was the fourth-largest source of traffic to news and media websites behind Google, Yahoo and MSN, at 3.52 percent. John Hudson reported for The Atlantic Wire that by December 2009 Facebook reached 193 million page views, which was almost as much as Yahoo and MSN combined. If the trend continues, Facebook will be largest source of trafficfor news and media websites.

All it takes is a link placed in a status or posted on a friend’s wall for a news story to be immediately available for easy access. In a study with Outsell Inc., Adrian Lurssen found that 44 percent of news readers said that they use social networks to share news and information. Of that 44 percent, half use Facebook.

Whereas Facebook isn’t by definition a news source, it both provides news and directs its users to news and media websites. Facebook operates as an effective news provider because of its convenience and personal significance to its readers.

Especially as college students, we frequently log on to Facebook and check our notifications or scan our news feed for updates. It’s unnecessary for us to log on to a news website or turn on the TV when we can just watch news stories break on Facebook through updated statuses and posted materials. When your friends find the most pertinent or thought-provoking articles for you, there is no need to search for your own information anymore. We would much rather spend our time watching “The Office” than the news, or doing the Sudoku than scanning the headlines.

Even if we do not use Facebook to get our fill of news, we frequently employ it to be aware of breaking news. For example, when President Barack Obama was elected or when Osama bin Laden was killed, the news was in almost every Facebook status. Within a few days, there were still articles and news media pages pertinent to the events being conveniently posted for you to peruse.

We are more willing to accept news from a social networking site because of the personal connection that is associated with it. When a news article or video is posted, we automatically pair that piece of information with the person who posted it, his views and opinions and whatever we know about him. Especially if there are comments made on the piece, a posted news story can inspire much discussion about issues.

But Facebook doesn’t only spread international and national news. It is also our main source for news about our friends and families, and even the people we don’t know well at all. Whether it’s information about a friend’s new romance or an acquaintance’s weekend plans, we keep ourselves informed about our friends through the information they choose to post on Facebook. We allow our personal triumphs and griefs to be communicated via Facebook as our own personal news sources.

When we get the news from Facebook, we are also filtering our news through the opinions of our friends and peers. While that can limit our sources, it can also focus the information to our personal preferences. The stories shared usually come from friends whose opinions we trust.

In some regard, it could be dangerous to rely on a social networking site like Facebook for news information if only biased sources are presented or you don’t find the whole story. But I think that it has proved more useful than harmful.

In college, we have very little time or will to read the newspaper or watch the news on a regular basis. But this is also the most vital time in our lives for us to be aware of what is going on in the world around us, both in our immediate bubble and internationally. It is better to get our news from Facebook than from nowhere at all.

Contact Elizabeth at eaw62@pitt.edu.