Introduction Online - Class 6 PDF Download

Introduction

The advent of the Internet has changed the way of producing and consuming information. In today’s world, half of the population is on the Internet, and they are using this medium to produce and consume information. You must have learned in detail about the term social media in the previous Unit. When we say social media, it does not mean that there are some media that are anti-social also. It only means that on the Internet, social media platforms have increased the level of interaction between various communities and individuals.
The technological features of social media platforms have enabled users to receive and send information instantly. It is estimated that social media users in India around 400 million in 2020, up from close to 168 million in 2016, and it is expected to reach 447 million by 2023. The most popular social media platforms are Facebook and YouTube. Facebook is projected to reach 444 million users in India by 2023 (Statista, 2020), and currently, it has 346 million users.
Similarly, YouTube had 265 million active monthly users in 2019, and by 2021 it is projected that it will have 500 million monthly active users (Jonnalagadda, H., 2018). One of the popular microblogging sites, Twitter has 17 million users in India (Statista, 2020). As far as sharing of content on social media is concerned, Twitter and Facebook are widely used. YouTube is used as a platform for video upload, but these video links are shared on Facebook or Twitter for broader visibility.
Even media houses are using Facebook and Twitter for this purpose. The information sharing on social media includes ideas, information, pictures, videos, and other digital content. They share their personal content as well as content from various websites. Now, users don’t wait for television bulletins or next-day newspapers for information. However, they prefer to get it from the Internet and preferably from social media where they get news as well as happenings in personal lives of their near and dear ones. News organizations are also exploring social media platforms to disseminate their news.
They have made their pages on these platforms and keep sharing online content on these pages. It has expanded their reach, and now they have a wider audience. Online users use several features of social media like share, hashtag, like, and keep multiplying the reach of the news. However, as social media lacks professional gatekeepers, it is evident that much misleading content would also surface on social media. These types of content are manipulated and aimed at misinforming the intended audience with malicious intent. It is popularly called ‘fake news, and it may create sociological and political problems in society.
Users have to learn ways to identify fake news so that social media remains a free and open platform of interaction and would not become a tool for propaganda in the hands of a few people. In this Unit, we shall learn the various aspects of news sharing on social media. We will also learn about the role of online media features to enhance the reach of news.