Rewrite #2.

 Hi,

This week as part of our assignment we had to read an article and give our opinions and understandings on the topic of that particular article , below I will discuss my opinions and understandings on the topic of the online environment. 

From reading this article ‘Digital Media Companies Found Lacking in Helping Users Understand the Online Environment’. According to Kirk (20202), a digital news report highlights that 62% of people surveyed had ongoing worries over miscommunication and misinformation online. 

I found the above statement to be the most interesting statement for me because I feel that even though surveys state that 62% of people that were surveyed had ongoing worries that all stem from miscommunication and misinformation online, many people are very reliant on the online environment and believe that what they see is true. For example, many teenagers are very involved in social media and with the lives of influencers and they believe that how the influencers have portrayed themselves online is how everyone’s lives should be or how everyone should look. These teenagers fail to see that many of people's online posts are edited and they also fail to see that these influencers only allow the world to see what they want it to see and not every moment of every day. 

Something from this article that I found very difficult to understand would be why Irish users are not well supported in terms of being informed of misinformation in circulation online. I couldn’t understand why Facebook and Google claimed to label fact-checked content when no fact-checked labels could be identified by code check researchers across any of the platforms, even though nearly 49 fact-checks being conducted were by the only IFCN approved fact-checked organization.

I also don’t understand why neither Twitter nor Microsoft has made any efforts to label content that might be misleading at all or why it remains unclear as to who was responsible for adding labels so that users can see that a claim has been reviewed.

Personally, from reading this text one thing that I will think differently about would be that many people worry about miscommunication and misinformation online but yet from personal experience many people try to follow the lead of influencers, etc. Even though the majority of people are aware that reality and social media are two very different things.

-Megan.

Bibliography

Kirk, N. (2020, June 26). Media Literacy Ireland. Retrieved October 2021, from Digital Media Companies, Found Lacking in Helping Users Understand The Online Environment: https://www.medialiteracyireland.ie/news/digital-media-companies-found-lacking-in-helping-users-understand-the-online-environment