{"id":646107,"date":"2013-03-10T20:18:31","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T00:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=618981"},"modified":"2013-03-10T20:18:31","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T00:18:31","slug":"when-it-comes-to-getting-news-on-twitter-you-are-who-you-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/646107","title":{"rendered":"When it comes to getting news on Twitter, you are who you follow?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Nate Silver discussed earlier today at SXSW<\/a>\u00a0in Austin on Sunday, the polarization of cable news and politics means that if you\u2019re a serious Rachel Maddow fan, there\u2019s only a tiny chance that you also vote Republican, and the same is true of Sean Hannity listeners and chances they\u2019ll go for Democrats.<\/p>\n

\"Nate<\/a><\/p>\n

But as we change where we get our news and turn to places like Twitter for information and verification of facts, it\u2019s important to ask how that polarization will\u00a0translate\u00a0to social\u00a0media\u00a0\u2013 if it will at all. Several journalists discussing the future of news dissemination<\/a> (something we\u2019ll also be discussing at paidContent Live<\/a> in April) tied these issues to those of crowdsourced news,\u00a0particularly in the Middle East, when the tensions between accuracy and access<\/a> are most apparent.<\/p>\n

NBC correspondant\u00a0Ayman Mohyeldin<\/a> made an interesting argument about verification, arguing that people should be free to select the accounts they want to follow and personally decide whether to trust that information or not, just as they tune into particular cable shows in the United States and apply their own sense of skepticism to Maddow and Hannity.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u00a0ultimately\u00a0choose which channels to watch,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason that should be different in who you follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The argument puts a good deal of trust in the user\u2019s judgement and takes some pressure off journalists or random people on Twitter to present accurate information, but it\u2019s an idea that\u00a0fellow panelist Andy Carvin has popularized<\/a>\u00a0to much controversy recently. The idea came under fire during the spread of misinformation on Twitter during Hurricane Sandy<\/a>, and certainly has its detractors:<\/p>\n

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The end user is responsible for deciding who they trust, @AymanM<\/a> says. True, but most don’t have the expertise to decide. #nextnews<\/a> #sxsw<\/a>\u2014
Eric Carvin (@EricCarvin) March 10, 2013<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But it\u2019s a good reminder that even if we think of cable news as being particularly polarizing right now, news consumption and opinions on Twitter<\/a> might not be all that different.<\/p>\n

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