The term ‘ambient awareness’ refers to the idea of knowledge and apprehension about the ones surrounding. Such knowledge is acquired without physically encountering the ambiance. Social media provides us with access to a vast array of information about everyone and everything taking place in the world.
‘What is going on’ is the query that social networking sites have been providing answers to. These bits of incoming information or answers are further propagated among the users of social media. The influx of information is constant and never ceases unless it becomes the talk of the town. Social scientists have named this constant online connection as ‘ambient awareness’. Leisa Reichelt, who is the research head at Atlassian, describes it as the tendency to stay in touch with people who use social media websites and acquire knowledge about their lives regularly without being there physically due to space and time constraints. Moreover, the concept behind ambient awareness is to be ambiently aware of other people's experiences and their lives without knowing them personally and requesting such knowledge.
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Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are direct sources of awareness. These are the platforms that use different features to produce knowledge about the events taking place in the world, from mundane news to global news. These websites provide access to people from all around the world who follow each other and stay connected and remain updated about each other lives without being connected in real life. The enormous amount of information is refreshed on a daily basis, and every new day has a unique story to tell.
People use Instagram to post pictures of their daily life activities, ranging from eating to hanging out with their loved ones and a lot more. Facebook is a similar medium used by people to keep their followers updated about everything happening in their lives, including their actions, moods, experiences, routines, etc. Additionally, Twitter is yet another medium to share your thoughts basically on anything that sparks your interest.
The regular flow of these tiny bits of information helps us to form a bigger picture of people's lives who post them, thus creating ambient awareness. Ambient awareness helps us to know about things, events, and people who use social media. Therefore, it's safe to say that we are always connected to the world through social media. The entire world news has become a tap away due to social media.
Social media platforms have always remained a primary medium to communicate social change, be it in the form of social movements like feminism, Occupy Wall Street (OWS), or the Arab Revolution. People arranged events and delivered their voices through social media platforms. Advocates of social change use platforms like Facebook, and Twitter to communicate their voices. Such activists are also called social media activists.
Social media contains information related to politics, health, social events and gatherings, business, and education. It spreads the news about the latter domains to the masses through social media. Hence it is people's source of information about the world besides other mediums.
Social networking sites contain a massive amount of user-generated information that is eventually propagated to social media, so the possibility of coming across fake news or misinformation is always around the corner. The urgency of sharing information in social feeds, as well as their updates, has led readers to circulate information without even reading it. Social media has become a firsthand source of news for many people around the world. For example, people used social media as a medium of communication and requested aid at the time of Japan's tsunami and Hurricane Sandy in the US. The latter fact points out a very crucial aspect of social media, which is credibility assessment.
One way to assess credibility is by tracking the source of information. Based on the user profile, we can form a judgment of assessment. For example, if your Facebook friend shares a piece of news, then the probability of its trustworthiness for you will be more. CredRank is a social media believability algorithm that inspects users’ online conduct to measure their reliability. Social scientists use the data-driven model as a credibility approach. The data-driven model uses machine learning methods to point out misleading information. Another source to confirm online information is to consult renowned and credible sources, such as UNICEF, WHO, etc.
A recent example of the influence that social media holds in spreading the news is Covid-19, also known as the coronavirus disease, it's a contagious disease spread by the novel coronavirus. Previously it has never been recognized in humans. It originated in China’s city of Wuhan. The coronavirus is zootonic in nature, i.e., found in animals, and its transmission takes place from animals to humans when they consume animals. On January 11th, 2020, the first death by the coronavirus was reported, and the patient was a regular customer of Wuhan's wet market. Since then, Covid-19 has reached 153 countries, and it has been declared an international health emergency by the World Health Organization. The death toll has reached up to 10,000 globally, CNN confirms. Officials have announced it is a pandemic. Countries have gone into lockdowns, closing educational institutions, ceasing public dealings, and every extreme measure to fight the virus from spreading more.
On the one hand, social media is playing a tremendous role in raising awareness about Covid-19, but on the other side, the misinformation being spread on social networking websites about Covid-19 has done equally significant damage. Consequently, social media has become a constant source of essential information and a bearing land for menacing rumors and misinformation. The Director-General of the World Health Organization tweeted that besides fighting against an epidemic, they are also combating an infodemic.
On the brighter side, social media users, including influencers nationally and internationally, are putting their best foot in encouraging people to observe precautions and practice social distancing. Healthcare organizations have launched campaigns on social media to make people aware of Covid-19, its causes, and its symptoms. Major health organizations like UNICEF and WHO have been using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to propagate essential information. Social media celebrities are making the most of their influence by raising awareness among their fans and encouraging them to practice social distancing. Through their Instagram stories, they are supporting people to take self-isolation as an actual practice. Social media influencers have been posting videos and discarding myths related to Covid-19. Physicians have been giving lectures on Instagram TV about the coronavirus, the way it affects the human body and the importance of handwashing. Twitter and Facebook users are promoting hashtags #togetherwecan, #stayathomechallenge, #istayhomefor, and #covid19update. WHO has issued a helpline number for the public, and UNICEF has been giving sharing video messages featuring people giving tutorials about how to wash hands, the correct ways to wear masks, etc.
Consequently, social media's enormous influence over people has turned out to be a blessing in the fight against Covid-19, and it has proved to be an easy and quick source for healthcare officials to raise awareness against Covid-19 without physically interacting with the public. We are aware of Covid-19, and even though we have no firsthand experience with the disease, our knowledge and awareness will serve as our greatest weapon to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
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