Column: Looking for a New Years resolution? Stop calling social media news

By Dan Kontos

While we don’t live in a Minneapolis, Chicago, or Detroit-sized media market, there is still a lot going on in our local community to keep us occupied. We may not have to listen to the daily accounts of shootings from last night (fortunately), still, there are lots of things that can grab our attention that may even impact us more.

From the promotion of a Plover police officer to the rank of captain, to Mr. Brew’s raising $8000 for Operation Bootstrap, to the unremitting stream of local elections, municipal board decisions, and tales of crime & punishment, there is a great deal happening in the background. The challenge is to find the real news, versus all of the junk.

The Pew Research Center recently published, “Digital sources have become an important part of Americans’ news diets – with social media playing a crucial role, particularly for younger adults. Overall, just over half of U.S. adults (54%) say they at least sometimes get news from social media, up slightly compared with the last few years.”

To me, this is alarming.

Don’t misunderstand me; I am not criticizing online news sources. I disparage those who mainly get their “news” from social media. I’m referring to sources like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter, kind of like when singer Prince Rogers Nelson went simply by Prince, before changing it to some European family bathroom symbol.)

We all have lives to live. The alternative to finding trusted news pre-packaged for you is to spend the time and effort to attend meetings, read documents, watch videos, talk to people, and gather your own facts. Oh, and try being in two places at once. Who has time for that? Sounds more like a full-time career. Exactly; that’s where the media step in.

Real news sources have journalistic standards (or at least are supposed to.) They operate by certain rules. Rules such as using multiple credible sources, verifying facts and details, avoiding bias, providing balance, putting things in context, backing up their stories with documentation, and just practicing fairness. Kind of like my columns. Oh, okay, I couldn’t even do that with a straight face. Of course, I make no bones about labeling my works as opinion pieces. I often cite news sources but come to my own reasoned conclusions. In short, it’s not news.

Social media sources don’t do all of that. Now, I’m not talking about reposts of actual news stories or redirects to an authentic online news source. I read those daily. I’m talking about stating things as facts, and people accepting them as such, simply because they read it.

While I am a huge fan of the First Amendment, and your right to say (or post) anything that you wish, news literate consumers need to understand that what they’re reading may not be true. Microblogers are the modern-day version of the American pamphleteer of the 1700s. George Orwell once wrote, “The pamphlet is a one-man show. One has complete freedom of expression, including, if one chooses, the freedom to be scurrilous, abusive, and seditious; or, on the other hand, to be more detailed, serious, and ‘high-brow’ than is ever possible in a newspaper or in most kinds of periodicals.” Much like social media posts are today.

People tend only to visit the sites that they best relate to, which are inundated with contributors giving opinions, accounts, interpretations, rumor, gossip, and propaganda that they most feel comfortable with. If you believe that UFOs are circling the Earth, you will visit sources that have the most “news” regarding UAPs and best fit with your confirmation bias tendencies. It’s human nature.

People interested in the British Royal Family (for whatever puerile reason) visit sites that abound in gossip and whisperings about all fashion of palace intrigue, and such. They usually skip more journalistic sources like Daily Mail or Town and Country Magazine. As a huge royal watcher myself, I only go there. Can we do an eye-rolling emoji here or not?

Don’t forget that social media companies have their own agendas too. It has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they have censored certain stories, instituted algorithms that push favorable narratives to the top, and colluded with all manner of government and legacy media outlets all in an attempt to control the narrative. No, it’s not a “conspiracy theory.” You probably read that on social media, didn’t you?

Social media sources are also places where all levels of government and industry post news releases, which even as their name suggests, provide direct “news” to the readers. Having written (and posted) countless news and press releases in my former life, I can guarantee you that it’s easier to bypass the press so that they are not subject to the same level of scrutiny as other stories. 

These direct releases were originally created to inform the press about something, who would then in turn make a news article out of it. In today’s world, they skip the media and produce “news” directly for the public. While I never personally crafted a release that was false or maliciously misleading, exactly zero of them did not try to portray my employer in a better light.

Organizations that do this mistakenly believe that they will reach more people by themselves using social media, but they’re wrong. Take, for example, this publication. Over the last six months, the Metro Wire garnered over 1 million page views, with one day in July reaching some 25 thousand viewers. Try doing that with your Facebook page. Now multiply that by including all of the other local news sources, and then you’re talking reach. Besides, not everyone is on social media, but those who want the news do use news sources.

So please, now that we are beginning 2025 afresh, can we resolve to stop calling social media posts news? Gossip, rumor, opinion, hearsay, blather, scandal-baiting, and chit-chat, are all fine. It just isn’t news.

So, with that, let’s meet in the opinion section to talk about all of it, boldly, honestly, with an appreciation for all points of view, and with a healthy respect for each other’s ideas.

Until then, have a fantastic, safe, and healthy 2025, and remember that God loves you, just like I do. Now that’s good news.