Wow

It is really impressive how people can manipulate others to see what they want you to see. And this is a perfect example of that. I will openly admit I don’t know the most about social media; I grew up largely without it, and have never needed to know much beyond how to chat with friends. It’s amazing what just one post can do, or what just one hashtag can do. I have always seen the internet as something where the majority of people get buried under a barrage of other people and ads, so I was really surprised by how two people, or really just one person manipulated the internet to the point that so many people could see it is such a short time. Trends are generally brought on by people who already have a strong social media presence already, so this to me was really interesting!

Wonder

I wonder how much misinformation and propaganda I have read and believed. I have always been relatively careful to fact-check anything I plan to tell others about, however, I don’t tend to fact-check things that I don’t plan to talk about with others. When I spent some time away from Canada, it was always interesting to see how other countries view us, and I know that I have some misconstrued ideas about other countries as well, but I am more curious on a smaller scale; what things do I think are true on a smaller, day to day level, that is being spread on the internet, for no other purpose than to give someone else something they want. (I don’t mean that in a bad way, I’m just genuinely curious.)

Photo link: https://smallbiztrends.com/category/social-media

Information link: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/disinformation-propaganda-amplification-ampliganda/620334/