A4 Article in conference proceedings
Social Media as an Opinion Formulator : A Study on Implications and Recent Developments (2019)

Jameel, T., Ali, R., & Malik, K. A. (2019). Social Media as an Opinion Formulator : A Study on Implications and Recent Developments. In iCoMET 2019 : 2nd International Conference on Computing, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICOMET.2019.8673509

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Jameel, Tanzeela; Ali, Rukhsana; Malik, Kamran Ahmed

Parent publication: iCoMET 2019 : 2nd International Conference on Computing, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies

Conference:

Place and date of conference: Sukkur, Pakistan, 30-31.1.2019

eISBN: 978-1-5386-9509-8

Publication year: 2019

Publisher: IEEE

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICOMET.2019.8673509

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/66375

Abstract

Social media has a great influence on how information reaches us and how we form an opinion based on it. For many users, social media increases the variety of information and ensure its accessibility across different platforms. However, recent years have seen an exponential increase in the power of social media. Most often, the forwarding and sharing of journalistic articles serve the recommendation from the user's point of view, but recently, these platforms have been developed into an echo chamber to transport additional information or even a critical attitude. In addition, the uncontrolled influx of social media in different parts of the world favors phenomena such as fake news and social bots. These threaten the exchange of views sought by mutual understanding and sincerity that democratic societies need. Motivated by these observations, this article aims to paint a realistic picture of the impact of social media. To do so, we discuss the recent developments and social changes and provide analysis of the global impact of the connected audience. Next, we shed light on some of the opinion formulation procedures and its key enablers. Finally, we present an explanatory discussion on the Facebook algorithms and provide two case studies in the wake of recent global events.

Keywords: democracy; public opinion; influencing; fake news; social media; Facebook

Free keywords: democratic societies; connected audience; Facebook algorithms; fake news; social media.

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2019

JUFO rating: 1