Jeremy Norman’sHistoryofInformation.com Exploring the History of Information and Media through Timelines
Jeremy Norman’s
On December 6, 2016 an article by Nathan Gardels of The WorldPost confirmed what many of us had suspected for some time— that more people were receiving their news on social media than on established news platforms like online newspapers and television or radio news. Also, the "echo-chamber" effect of social media, in which people with particular biases share and reinforce views and prejudices, is having a more persuasive impact on the viewpoints of people active on social media than traditional journalists, and traditional expert authorities. Therefore people extensively involved with social media tend to trust their peers more than traditional authorities.
"The new dominance of social media has split the discourse. The passionate political environment of 2016 appears to have marked a tipping point on the globally dominant English-language web, where the influence of individuals sharing information on social media surpassed that of established media platforms.
"This shift matches the inversion of the old pyramid in which the authority and influence of elites in both society and the media held the most sway over the majority of the population.
". . . 85 percent of the public in its 2016 global survey avow low levels of trust in the authority of elites and public institutions, placing their confidence instead in peers. The remaining 15 percent of the “informed public” exhibit a much higher level of trust.
"The combined result of these related developments ― the dominance of peer-driven social media and diminished trust in authority among the majority ― is the emergence of two parallel webs.
"Though their message has profoundly shifted the political landscape, alt-right websites like Breitbart News and the virtual missives of Trump advisor Steve Bannon barely registered in established global networks of the informed public. Rather, the alt-right influence spread through social media like Twitter and Facebook by riding the wave of Donald Trump’s campaign against elite authority.
"In striking contrast, thinkers in some way associated with elite institutions like Harvard University dominated the exchange of ideas among networks of the informed public. Like last year, The WorldPost/The Huffington Post, along with The New York Times, were the leading blog platforms for the broad dissemination of ideas outside social media.
"The disquieting insight here is that there is a burgeoning disconnect between authority and influence, between the networks of informed public debate and social media. In short, one internet, two conversations."
