Sofi Olliver

Dec. 3, 2018

College students have a love-hate relationship with news reported on social media

With the rise of digital media, most have turned to the internet to provide their news rather than print media. In turn,
many have now looked to social media to get their news, with two-thirds of respondents to a Pew research survey
saying they get their news from social media “at least sometimes”.

Since adults ages 18-24 are more likely to use social media than any other age group, it’s a natural assumption to
think college students would be following this trend of relying on social media for news updates. Sorina Adamovici, a
sophomore in college, went from paying little attention to the news to becoming an avid news consumer in the wake
of the 2016 election.

“I want to educate people my age and the best way to do that is through social media,” said Adamovici. “I’ll share
NPR articles on Facebook that I think friends of mine should know about… I’ll post things on my Instagram story
about elections.”

Many choose to share news articles they have read with friends on social media. This practice, while useful in sharing
noteworthy information with friends and family, can also be concerning if no one fact checks the legitimacy of these
articles.

Some college students, because of this, are wary about getting news from social media due to the fake news
movement. Meredith Maloof, also a sophomore, sees news articles on her social media feeds but chooses not to
read them.

“Social media makes me more suspicious of fake news,” said Maloof, “because I don’t know who to trust.”

Though college students are the most likely to use social media platforms, they seem to have a love-hate relationship
with these platforms as news consumers, both avidly using them and distrusting them.