The Ties that Bind: Social Networks, Social Media, and Digital Information Literacy

In simple terms, a social network is a set of people and groups of people connected through  relationships and the ways that information and resources flow between them. These days we usually think of social networks as living online, but they have existed as long as we have on earth, and are the way we have built and evolved our social and community lives. Getting academic here: Williams and Durrance (2007) and Hoffman et al. (2018) tell us that social networks define communities as relationships, the hierarchies of those relationships, and the strengths of the ties that create them. And, fun fact: humans aren't the only species with social networks-- and our networks might even include animals:

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The connections and communications within social networks - and their cultural dimensions - determine how a community will grow and their social capital and their ability to locate, create, and share news, remain informed, and prepare for and mitigate community threats large and small. We do not exist in isolation: people and groups within a larger community are interdependent. When we understand a network's structure, we can also understand  each person or group's access to resources and their ability to find and maintain the resources and information they need.

Social media is not the only way social networks are created or exchange information, but is an increasingly important piece of the conversation. Social media has the ability to both change communities and, like other technologies, to be changed by them. Social media can strengthen network ties of all kinds, especially those that were previously weak and ties between distant groups. Social media is not without risk though - both to individual mental and social health from the inundation of information and communication and to communities at large from the spread of misinformation and 'fake news'. 

Librarians Have Entered the Chat

Think the rise of digital technology has rendered libraries obsolete? Guess again! Analog books are only part of our repertoire. Libraries, and especially academic libraries, are on the frontlines of literacy, and we don't just mean reading. You can see what I mean if you browse the list of ACRL Standards, Guidelines, and Frameworks - information literacy is a huge component of what we do, and the internet has made information bigger, faster, and more crucial than ever before.

In 2022 the Pew Research Center reported that an astounding 91% of adults 18-29 are accessing digital news. Going a bit deeper, they found that the leading social platforms used by young adults seeking news are Reddit, TikTok, and Snapchat.

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So, knowing that our students (and, as you can see, many older American adults) are using social media to find and share news, how do we adapt our information literacy instruction?

SIFT through the CRAAP

Critical digital information literacy is "a set of skills, competencies, and analytical viewpoints that allows a person to use, understand, and create digital media and tools" and is part of the metaliteracies we need to care about in today's libraries and classrooms. Two easy tools we can share with students immediately in our one-shot classes are SIFT and CRAP.

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SIFT, also called "The Four Moves", is a list of tasks for evaluating web sources - and it is perfect for social media use. 

• Stop: Don't read or share information until you know what it is. Period.
• Investigate: This is the 30 second gut check. Before you even click on something, hover over it to see if it's what you think it is.
• Find : Cross-check the information by seeking additional sources about it.
• Trace: Check the date, check the source - what is the original context of a quote, a video, or a photo? 

SIFT is a fast way to help students build small habits and skills can dramatically reduce the misinformation they spread or believe.

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The CRAAP test is a fairly standard tool in higher ed information literacy. It's something I refer to when I talk about selecting sources for scholarly resources, but it also has direct applicability to evaluating information on social media - especially in short-form content like we see on TikTok and Snapchat. This type of content nearly always passes the Currency test because it is happening at an amazing speed. The Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose aspects are particularly crucial for digital information literacy conversations with social media users. We should be asking:

• Who is sharing information? We joke about bogus information in Aunt Helen's Facebook posts, but the same sentiment about authority is not scaling to TikTok. We need to have frank conversations about authority in literacy education.
• How do you know it's correct? Screenshots on their own are not necessarily citations - context matters to accuracy. 
• Why are they sharing this information? Is it for laughs? Is it for a particular agenda? What's its purpose?

It's Complicated

We are social creatures. We have always been creators and consumers of information through our social networks, and the internet has made it faster - with both consequences and benefits to our cognition and our communities. We could fight the growth of online networking, but why not meet it and use our professional expertise to help ourselves and our students learn how to use social media for learning and growth?

Digital Literacy Resources

• BOOK: Understanding Digital Literacies
• VIDEOS: Digital Literacy Video Library from Learning for Justice
• DOCUMENT: ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education
• ARTICLE: Understanding Social Media Literacy: A Systematic Review of the Concept and Its Competences