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News Literacy: Social Media Literacy

Workshop Objectives

  • Define "social media" and discuss its role in our lives​

  • Understand the impact of social media on our society and on individuals​

  • Identify strategies to enhance privacy and improve social news feeds​

  • Discuss the positives and possible constructive uses of social media​

  • Identify resources for addressing responsible social media use with your students and connections to existing learning standards

Social Media Defined

Oxford defines Social Media as "websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking."​

  • Blogs​

  • Video Hosting Sites (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)​

  • Music sharing sites like Spotify​

  • Craft sharing sites like Pinterest​

  • Social Networks (like FB, Twitter, SnapChat, TikTok, etc.)​

  • Social Games like Minecraft, Roblox, Animal Crossing​

  • News websites have become interactive - comments

Social Media and Misinformation

Here Be Trolls! How savvy are you?

Algorithms

The Research

Pew has lots of interesting research on this- check this link for updated reports on social media use: Pew Social Media

Americans have a complicated relationship with social media- we use it, but do we like it?​

 

FOMO

Recognizing a Social Media Addiction. Do you: ​

  • Think about it all the time?​

  • Feel urges to use it more and more?​

  • Use social media to forget about personal problems?​

  • Reduce use of social media without success?​

  • Become restless or troubled without it?

Remedying a Social Media Addiction:​

  • Try stopping cold-turkey​

  • Digital Detox​

  • Turn off notifications​

  • Schedule your screen time​

  • Don't allow yourself to use it during meal times​

  • Keep it in a separate room during sleep​

  • Put it away when socializing face-to-face

News by Notification

  • Research revealed that rather than actively seeking news, teens discovered news by setting up notifications or following newsmakers on social media.​

  • "In this way, the news came to them, rather than the other way around. Many educators teach their students to find credible information sources, but how many teach students how to set up their own algorithms for ensuring those same credible sources come to them?" (p. 37 of Fact vs Fiction, Jennifer LaGarde)

Privacy

Core Principles

  • Be aware of your own biases.​

  • Think about technology as tools for building empathy.​

  • Arm students with language that allows them to challenge ideas, but that does not attack people.​

  • Model positive behavior in your own digital and analog interactions.​

  • Give students the chance to reflect.​

From p. 56​ in Fact vs. Fiction by Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins 

Social Media Guidelines 

Ask your students to come up with guidelines for their own social media usage.:​

Have them think through why they are creating these rules. Ask them to think about:​

  • Time of day they should be on social media​
  • Length of time they should use it​
  • How often they should check it​

Include rules such as: ​

  • Think before you re-post​
  • Use positive behaviors ​
  • Set reasonable limits​
  • Don't gossip, spread rumors, bully others or damage someone's reputation​
  • Make time for face-to-face contact with friends​
  • Reflect on social media habits​
  • Remember that social media is full of unrealistic images​

Questions to Ask Yourself

Have your students generate questions to ask themselves when encountering posts online. Get them started with some of these.:​

  • Who made this post? Is it original, or was it re-shared?​
  • Why has it attracted my attention? ​
  • How am I interpreting the message in the post? What might other people see in it?​
  • What or who is not represented?​
  • Why was this post made? What is its purpose and who is the audience?​
  • Do other sources say the same thing?

Facts to Remember:

  • If you are using a free website, then you are the product being sold.​
  • It's critical to evaluate information for truth and authenticity.​
  • Sites use your information to place particular ads on other sites you visit.​
  • Social media can affect your self-perception."​

From Master the Media: How Teaching Media Literacy Can Save Our Plugged-In World by Julie Smith

Conspiratorial Thinking

Social Media Survey(s)

Global Day of Unplugging

Anger & Bullying

Teen Depression

"Only on the Internet can a person be lonely and popular at the same time." - Allison Burnett (I saw this in the Master the Media book by Julie Smith)​

Self-Image

Stanford Duck Syndrome: this term describes students struggling to survive the pressures of a competitive environment while presenting the image of relaxed California chill. Imagine a calm duck gliding across a fountain. (from KQED)

Digital Civility

"In a free society, we must accept that bad actors will try to take advantage of our openness. But we need to learn to question our own and others’ biases on social media. We need to teach — to individuals of all ages — that we shouldn’t simply believe or repost anonymous users because they used the same hashtag we did, and neither should we accuse them of being a Russian bot simply because we disagree with their perspective. We need to teach digital civility. It will not only weaken foreign efforts, but it will also help us better engage online with our neighbors, especially the ones we disagree with."

Positive Outcomes?

"...consider the potential impact of denying marginalized students access to tools and resources (or opportunities to use them in meaningful ways) that are so deeply tied to what it means to be a citizen today." (p. 44 of Fact vs Fiction, Jennifer LaGarde)

Using Social Media to Promote Library

  • Examples of good accounts​
  • Facebook: better for connecting with parents, colleagues- not students​
  • Twitter: good for conversations​
  • Instagram: visual medium, students use​
  • TikTok: students use, blocked in many places​
  • "If television is a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up." - Dorothy Gambrell (also found in Master the Media by Julie Smith)​