When it comes to finding trending and relevant news, there are hundreds of options that we can use to do so. Some options include watching news channels, opening social media apps, or listening to the radio. Of the options, it seems the most used option is social media applications. Now the question is, how and why do we use them? I have found two social media platforms out of several highly used apps that stay on top of reporting news to be Twitter and Snapchat. Twitter is popularly used because of a user-friendly way to find and report information to internet users. This is understood from The Verge’s article titled, “Snapchat is testing a big new redesign.” In this article, the site discusses Twitter’s way to inform readers of what is occurring with a way for users to interact but by also discussing the negatives behind it. “The upside to this approach is that you make room for lots of voices, including some who have been historically marginalized. The downside is that lots of voices have historically been marginalized for a reason.” The quote explains that although users can voice their opinion and share news, some of the news that is being reported is false and by users that are known for spreading such lies. Snapchat on the other hand is said to “...allow only whitelisted publishers onto the platform. In theory, this should elevate high-quality and mainstream news publishers while limiting the amount of misinformation on the platform.” With this statement, it is understandable that Snapchat aims to produce content that is accurate and reliable for users to grasp. Their platform has less range for users to produce and share content besides the apps allowance of recording videos. The news they share is strictly produced and distributed by sources they have “whitelisted.” Both Snapchat and Twitter are different and restrict users in their own ways. The rhetorical choice Twitter uses allows more freedom to the user to read and write what they want. Whereas, Snapchat essentially provides a choice of sources for users to watch.
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