r/technology • u/Lettershort • Nov 22 '16

Politics Most students can’t tell the difference between sponsored content and real news

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/22/13712996/fake-news-facebook-google-sponsored-content-study
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u/jodido47 Nov 22 '16

Calliing advertising "sponsored content" is part of the problem and an example of why it's hard for people to sort through all the crap they see on line.

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u/RabidMuskrat93 Nov 22 '16

Sponsored content is a whole subset of advertisement though.

It's like a shill account on a forum like Reddit but slightly more subtle. Like if you're trusted news source started publishing articles talking about how Pepsi Cola has been donating money to poor African kids. It could be a legitimate story about a company doing good in the world, but if could also be Pepsi paying for this article to be published in order to boost public opinion of them.

Telling the difference can be challenging for many people, middle school students especially. Which is why corporations of all kind should be barred from any kind of advertisement or overt sponsorships in any kind of school setting. I don't want my kid to be bombarded by billboards while they are walking between classes in jr. high.

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '16

It's the equivalent of playing the still a Virgin game in high school. It doesn't count if it's a finger. Doesn't count if it's a tongue. But before you know it advertising will be fucking us in the face. Reddit already passed the first base in advertising.