Evaluation of Media Sources

Impacts of Social Media on Society

teh-interwebz "Earth taking a selfie" (10/22/2013) via Deviantart
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As I continue to gather resources for researching my controversy, I have stumbled across a couple media sources that I think will be useful (my favorites happened to be Youtube videos). I will analyze both and determine if they are credible sources that I can use in my research.

AsapSCIENCE 

Video

Credibility

Both Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown co-founded AsapSCIENCE and AsapTHOUGHT (YouTube Channels). They also wrote a book called Asap SCIENCE that is recommended by Bill Nye and bestselling authors.

Location / Involement

At the end of the video, the authors created that listed the positive, negative, and ambiguous effects of social media use, the authors specifically mentioned that they, too, used these platforms to interact with the people watching the video. In a way, they are the controversy.

Network

Reputable sources such as TED and the SETI Institute are followed by the source, but the source is otherwise not associated with widely known sources in the fields of science (with the exception of Bill Nye). Their following is mostly composed of fans of their YouTube channel. 

Content

The information that is relied upon for this video comes from reputable sources and studies which are linked and listed in the video details.

Contextual Updates

This channel posts new videos on interesting and unconventional science topics weekly. The focus of their channel is to bring to light fun and intriguing science.

Age

The account for AsapSCIENCE is over three years old.

Reliability

This source of information is reliable. The videos created are based off of factual studies and real science; the specific sources from which they gather information are made available to viewers.

Gary Turk 

Video

Credibility
Gary Turk is a writer, director, and filmmaker - his YouTube channel is his name. Upon searching him I discovered his website, and multiple press articles about the significance of his work, some even about this video. He won the Gold Award for Viral Video from the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards in 2014.

Location / Involvement
Just as the other video is technically a part of the controversy of how social media impacts society, so is this one. It is social media that is criticizing social media.

Network
The Washington Post and The Huffington Post have both associated with Gary Turk over social media with interviews and discussions. In social media, his followers seem to be a mix of fans and personal friends.

Content
The information in his post can be found on his website. His focus is the art form of spoken word, so it isn't necessarily a factual article, but it is definitely a commentary on the trends in human behavior that accompany excessive social media use. This information can be corroborated by my other sources.

Contextual Updates
Gary Turk usually posts videos about societal flaws and how they affect people. His main focus in his posts is to create a movement or discussion about the flaw he examines.

Age
The YouTube account is over a year and a half old.

Reliability
This source is reliable because it is held to the standard of the award it received, and the author spends long periods of time fine-tuning his work.

Conclusion

I see both of these sources as credible due to the age of the sources, the ability to verify the authors and content of the source, and their reliability. Due to the nature of my controversy, any social media source I chose would have been involved in the controversy, so I consider this trait neither an asset or a detriment to the sources I selected. These sources explored the impact of social media on society in new ways that caused me to see their potential in assisting me in my research.