Spring 2024
Don’t read all about it
Communication researchers at Washington State University are working on strategies to slow the online spread of misinformation. » More ...
Social media
Spring 2024
Slowing misinformation’s spread: Q&A with Porismita Borah
Porismita Borah, a professor at Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, researches the spread of misinformation on digital platforms. While rumors, conspiracies, and falsehoods abound online, Borah says corrections and content warnings are effective ways to slow the spread of misinformation.
She talked to Washington State Magazine about why we are susceptible to false information and how we can be more astute about spotting misinformation.
Q: We frequently hear these two terms—misinformation and disinformation. What do they mean?
A: Both are false, but misinformation can be shared without the person knowing that it is incorrect. Disinformation is far … » More …
Spring 2024
TikTok Rx: Youth turn to social media for health advice
Young people have lots of questions about diet, exercise, and sexual health. TikTok is one of their most trusted venues for finding out information.
“They’ll go to TikTok and ask questions,” says Nicole O’Donnell, assistant professor at Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. “They’re learning about health mostly through other people’s stories rather than some of the traditional health information you might get online.”
But are they getting good health advice? In a recent study, O’Donnell analyzed health content on TikTok. Influencers with motivational stories were prevalent, while content from credentialed health providers was lacking.
… » More …
Winter 2023
Positive influences
Gillis Williams educates, inspires, and entertains about autism on TikTok. » More ...
Fall 2023
Kaitlyn Thornton
Agriculture looks pretty fun in Kaitlyn Thornton’s hands.
Big trucks, small trucks, pears and apples, belt buckles and boots, and lots of music.
Thornton, who’ll graduate from the Carson College of Business in December 2023, is an ag influencer on TikTok and Instagram with hundreds of thousands of followers.
Through videos and photos she educates her followers on what it takes to operate a more than 400-acre orchard in north-central Washington. For example, that “dust” on apples in the family orchards? It’s natural clay sprayed on the fruit to prevent sun damage. And imperfect fruit tastes … » More …
Fall 2023
More than a kick
Dean Janikowski is the kicker for Washington State University’s football team, a 2022 graduate and currently an MBA student at WSU. He also has a great time on Instagram and other social media with photos and videos playing football for the Cougs, riding dirt bikes, and kicking spicy Chicken McNuggets.
In this episode, Dean talks with Washington State Magazine writer Becky Kramer about raising money for the Heather Janikowski Foundation, a charity named for his mom, who died of cancer.
Dean also talks about how he started his sports career in soccer, NIL (name, image, and likeness), and his … » More …
Summer 2021
Ande Edlund and Dash Dog
The golden retriever has become a social media celebrity for the WSU family. » More ...
Spring 2018
Truth or consequences
Fake news nearly started a war between Qatar and its neighbors in 2017. In Pakistan, a highly placed official bought into a fake news story warning that Israel was going to destroy Pakistan, and tweeted a warning at Israel that his country, too, was a nuclear power. And in Washington, D.C., an armed vigilante burst into a pizzeria and fired three shots, thinking he was bringing down a sex-slave ring.
While news has never been neutral, something has changed: Information has become weaponized. What’s changed, says Washington State University communications professor Doug Hindman, is that the marketplace of ideas has broken down under the … » More …
Spring 2018
Fact or Fiction? Using the Web to Quickly Fact-check Social Media Feeds
Although titled Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, Michael Caulfield’s book is in fact for all of us. That’s why he subtitled the book as also being for “other people who care about facts.” As he writes, the web “is both the largest propaganda machine ever created and the most amazing fact-checking tool ever invented.”
Most efforts at teaching web literacy have focused, the Washington State University staff member writes, on time-consuming critical thinking and on producing and publishing things on the web. While both are valuable skills, they fail to address the much more urgent need: how to evaluate the information we are presented with … » More …
Fall 2017
Privacy, Surveillance, and the New Media You
Edward Lee Lamoureux ’80 MA Speech Comm.
Peter Lang: 2017
You open your browser to your favorite news site, and there on top is an ad for Cougar logo socks. “Wait a minute,” you might ask yourself. “How did they know I just looked at a tweet about Coug socks?” Or you might not even think about it.
That slightly creepy sensation of losing one’s privacy, and … » More …