Zing of Authenticity

After listening to the podcast of Brooke Gladstone interview Alex Goldman from On The Media I was a little confused about she meant with her comment about the "zing of authenticity." I probably listened to the podcast at least fifteen times trying to really understand what she was talking about. Then I noticed the general overall theme of what this whole interview was about and then the "zing of authenticity" kind of clicked for me. 

With how social media is today we have access to all sorts of information with the click of a button or just the tapping of our finger. I think it is great how fast information can be relayed back and forth from people who are all over the world or all over the country. But with this power also comes the power of deception and the task of reporting the truth. A point which came up in the podcast is how social media was a great tool in letting people know what was going on. At the same time wrongful information that was being spread across the social media world was also affecting what was happening in the real life situation. This is where some of the frustration comes in when talking about social media and the news. "As people on social media, including journalists, sometimes conveyed wrong information last week, it was challenging to know what (sources) to trust," Dave Kerpen, CEO of the social media marketing firm Likeable Media. This is something I found very frustrating as well. I noticed when they were in the midst of looking for the second bomber CNN was reporting they had found him and were trying to capture him. While a local news station had reported a couple of days earlier both of the bombers had been caught. Yes social media can make our lives easier and being up to date with the information. At the same time it is hard to know if their sources are reliable and if their sources are providing them with the upmost current and reliable information. 

The next part I found very interesting was how fast people found out through social media these events were going on. People in the twitter and facebook world had reported this information first, from people who were in Boston. "On Monday, information about the blasts spread more quickly on social media than through traditional news outlets." I found this very interesting, people when first hearing about something big from a news source usually ask someone else if they have heard about it. Almost to clarify or to double check their sources, but instead of people going and finding someone to ask they turn to social media. If something big is happening then it is on social media. This is the clarification they are looking for. They trust what is happening in the social media realm more than anything. Apparently so do the authorities as well because they were reading false tweets from a so called person pretending to be the boston marathon bomber. This false information affected the real world. Which leads me into my next point about the "zing of authenticity." 

The last part I want to look at is the fraud that is going along with these high case social media floods. All of this information is pouring out and you alone are in charge of what information you take to heart and see it's real or you don't and see the falsity behind it. The FBI is warning people they can be charged for fraud for doing these wrong postings. For instances, "the FBI is aware that an account on a popular social media service using the Boston Marathon name and official logo was created soon after the explosions." They are talking about an account on twitter which was created representing the Boston Marathon organization. This twitter feed said that for every communication or repost of a certain tweet they would donate $1 to help the victims of this tragedy. The account was quickly suspended by Twitter. Although this is just one example a lot of harm could have been done by this account. 

I feel