Social media in the current world

Social media in the current world

Social media in today’s is widely used. Its role has, therefore, been vital in people’s lives. For instance, individuals today receive news and interact with their friends with the help of the internet. Social media use and the internet have raised significant issues, especially on data privacy. It is from this backdrop that Bill Densmore discusses the dangers of internet use in the modern-day world.

From his discussion, Densmore argues that journalists should remain professional and feed the audience authentic information. Journalists control a large group of the audience around the world. The news they present, therefore, reaches a diverse group of people around the world. As a result, journalists should be articulate in their reports because they control what individuals receive in their daily lives. As Densmore argued, journalists should proofread and edit their works before they release it to a broader global audience. Proofreading and editing are vital in the journalism profession. Its primary role is to edit any information that they feed to the larger audience. Proofreading enhances the elimination of sensitive information that would be toxic if it reaches a large group of people. This is the major role of proofreading and editing. From this description, proofreading helps journalists eliminate unwanted content that would be inappropriate to the audience.

Journalists should also exercise a high degree of transparency. Media plays a vital role in any society. The most significant function of media is to inform the people about their government and other events happening around them. Media also plays the role of promoting democracy and the rule of law. This function is crucial in creating a responsible government that is desirable by the people. The media should, therefore, exercise a high degree of transparency while informing the public. Journalists come into contact with diverse information. They get access to data from their friends and enemies alike. Media bias is, therefore, unavoidable sometimes. Transparency will help journalists form being biased in their reporting. It will help journalists report their contents without fear or favor. Transparency is a significant trait that professional journalists should have in their careers. This will enable them to build aa positive relationship with the audience. Confidence will also be high because people will be satisfied with the content they receive even if it means revealing the dirty secrets of some media personalities and owners.

Internet platforms such as Google and Facebook play a significant role in enhancing easy access to information. However, these media platforms pose a substantial danger to users. For instance, Google installs cookies on users’ computers. This practice makes Google managers monitor the activities of the users. Sensitive and confidential information can be accessed by rogue individuals in the managerial positions of these platforms. For example, when an individual opens a Google account, he feeds his real identity and the password, which can be accessed from Google’s end. This poses a real danger to the privacy of individuals across the world. For instance, individuals are controlled through tracking systems that only Google and government agencies have access to. As mentioned in the discussion, individuals have been arrested because their mobile phones were tracked to the crime scenes. Therefore, there is a need to create a secure system to help control access to confidential information by the website developers. However, this development is difficult because the owners still control the websites. The government should, therefore, come up with policies intended to help protect the users’ confidentiality.

Web developers should be held accountable, as proposed by Densmore. Web developers create domains that allow individuals to open accounts through which they get access to crucial information. These domains are also widely used by the broader field of journalism. As a result, information that is shared is controlled by a few individuals. These individuals jeopardize the privacy of individuals in situations when they leak this information. Web developers should, therefore, take accountability for their domains. They should take security measures to protect individual information from leaking. As mentioned by Densmore, the government should bring legislation aimed at making web developers accountable. This strategy will make web developers safeguard user information and privacy. Punitive measures should be applied to organizations found to have broken this law. From this perspective, individuals’ information will be protected from rogue individuals such as hackers.

To conclude, Densmore has revealed crucial information about today’s media, especially social media and data privacy. Media is controlled by journalists who should exercise a high degree of transparency. They should also proofread their works before they release it to the public. The major problem facing social media users is also privacy. Web developers have access to peoples’ privacy, thereby leaving them vulnerable. The government should, therefore, create policies aimed at making web developers accountable to the people.