Social media as a news source
Social media as a news source is the use of online social media platforms rather than moreover traditional media platforms to obtain news. Just as television turned a nation of people who listened to media content into watchers of media content in the 1950s to the 1980s, the emergence of social media has created a nation of media content creators. Almost half of Americans use social media as a news source, according to the Pew Research Center.As a participatory platform that allows for user-generated content and sharing content within one's own virtual network, using social media as a news source allows users to engage with news in a variety of ways, including:

Consume news
Discover news
Share or repost news
Post their own photos, videos, or reports of news (i.e., engage in citizen or participatory journalism)
Comment on newsUsing social media as a news source has become an increasingly more popular way for old and young adults alike to obtain information. There are ways that social media positively affects the world of news and journalism but it is important to acknowledge that there are also ways in which social media has a negative affect on the news that people consume such as false news, biased news, and disturbing content.