Tag: Hubbard2018DataAnalysisThoughts

Data Analysis thoughts Math 9H

Article Reflections:

Article #1- In search of ‘James Galan’: How seemingly fake social media accounts permeate Alberta politics:

A lot of people think that fake accounts, and even just in general Social Media, doesn’t affect them in a bad away. But in my opinion, even if you are not an everyday user of Social Media, it still affects you in some way. No one really realizes it but fake accounts are very popular to stumble upon on Social Media these days. There are good and bad aspects to Social Media but fake accounts is definitely on the negative spectrum. This article portrays the dangers of fake accounts and how they can be used to affect big decisions and have negative consequences. People these days and society is easily influenced by other people, especially by more well known people and sadly that is how a lot of the populations opinions are formulated. This makes me realize that I shouldn’t be surprised by the amount of fake accounts on Social Media because it can have such a great impact on the public. This article should definitely teach the readers a lesson that not everything and everyone on the internet is who they portray themselves to be, and that you must be very careful on the internet because it can lead to bad consequences that you could later regret. 

Article #2- Manchester Arena: 2 rules to sort truth from fiction in an attack’s confusing aftermath:

This second article made me kind of angry and sad at the same time. To think that some people go out of their way to do these kinds of things, makes me question who we are as a society anymore. This post was about people on Social Media putting up fake posts about “missing children” after terrorist attacks while they take advantage of a tragic and unfortunate situation. I never even thought that this existed and was so common. If I would see a post like that on one of my Social Media feeds, I would probably think that it’s true and wouldn’t even think about it twice, but now I know that it could actually be fake. This article taught me that not only is there fake accounts but also fake posts so you should always fact check suspicious posts on your Social Media before you repost it/retweet it. This affects literally ALL Social Media users and it makes me wonder, what percentage of the posts we see are actually fake? 

Article #3- Lies, Propaganda and fake news: a challenge for our age:

This last article talked about fake news and false information spread online. The article states that 64% of American adults said made-up news stories were causing confusion about the basic facts of current issues and events. I can relate to this a lot. I often stumble upon information about current issues and events and then go to another source and find out that what actually happened, was the complete opposite of the information stated in the previous source. This makes me lose a lot of trust with a variety of websites and accounts because I don’t know what’s real anymore. This article taught me that I should definitely fact check suspicious information and/or go to a trusted website to find out the accurate information. If you are suspicious about information you are reading online, check if it is bias or not. That is a very good tool to use if you are suspicious in information you find online. A huge part about the internet and Social Media is advertising/commercials. It is everywhere. Before a YouTube video, website pages, articles and way more. It has a huge impact on society and can be used in a negative way. Internet users should be cautious at all times.