Do You Trust The Mass Media?
The way we typically get news and who we get it from has changed over time. Baby Boomers would get their information from the newspaper and on tv. If we fast forward to more modern times, Millennials and Gen Z get their news from social media.
If it’s not trending on Twitter or on my For You Page on TikTok, I typically won’t know what’s going on in the world. I depend on influencers to do their research and tell me about the things I need to care about and why I should care about them. This is known as the Two-Step Flow Theory.
This Theory believes the mass media is not the only one spreading information to people. There are opinion leaders known as influencers who determine what is important to them, and they talk about it to their followers. People who follow them trust their opinion and don’t trust the Mass Media. More people are getting their news from people they trust, and fewer people are trusting the mass media.
An example of this theory would be someone on TikTok sharing their thought and opinions about things. This famous TikToker @mualesandro is known for giving real information on new makeup releases.
He most recently lost some of his credibility for having clickbait titles and using makeup products that aren’t made for his skin tone. As easily as influencers rise to fame, they can easily lose all of their credibility by being called out by cancel culture.
Another example would be Brad Mondo. Brand Mondo released several videos each week on YouTube during the pandemic, showcasing people attempting to do bleach and cut their hair. He gave several tips and tutorials on how professionals do it, how to take care of your hair, what products are good for your hair, and the ones not to waste your money on.
By the end of watching all of his videos, I felt like I was a professional hairstylist, and I would bleach and cut my friend’s hair. I only did that because I trusted the information Brad Mondo gave out.
Adam Rose is another TikToker who posts different news articles, which helps me stay informed about crazy things happening in the world.
We are so quick to share things before fact-checking anything in this generation. Sharing something on social media is just a click away. I fall into the trap of trusting the people I follow and hoping they give me the right information, but influencers can’t always be trusted, and you should definitely fact-check things before sharing them.