COM 205 Exam 2 Key Concepts Summary

  • What is news?
    Information about current events that is relevant, timely, and significant to the public.

  • Sources of news:

    • Journalists
    • Eyewitnesses
    • Official reports
    • Social media

  • Jacksonian democracy:
    Movement promoting democracy for the common man; made news more accessible.

  • Citizen journalism:
    News content created by everyday people, not professional journalists.

  • Fake and misleading news:
    False or deceptive content meant to misinform or manipulate.

  • Media literacy:
    Ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media.

  • Confirmation bias:
    Favoring information that confirms preexisting beliefs.

  • Clickbait:
    Sensational headlines/thumbnails to attract clicks.

  • Agenda-setting theory:
    Media tells us what to think about by highlighting certain topics.

  • Exemplification theory:
    People are more influenced by vivid examples than statistics.

  • Framing theory:
    Media presentation influences story interpretation.

  • Cognitive learning:
    Learning through thinking, understanding, and problem-solving.

  • Affective learning:
    Learning that changes emotions, attitudes, and values.

  • Social learning theory:
    Learning by watching and imitating others.

  • Video games and interactive learning:
    Engage users in active, immersive education.

  • Multimodal learning:
    Learning through multiple senses—visual, audio, reading, touch.

  • Social media supports learning:
    Through collaboration, communication, and content sharing.

  • ARPAnet:
    Early government network that led to the internet.

  • Meta-analysis study:
    Combines data from multiple studies to find overall trends.

  • Social media research considerations:
    Ethics, platform changes, privacy, and diversity.

  • Social media vs. social networking:
    Media = sharing content; networking = building relationships.

  • Differences between social networking sites and old tech:
    More interactive, personalized, and user-driven.

  • Deception online:
    Misrepresenting identity or intent (e.g., catfishing).

  • Social penetration theory (online):
    Relationships grow as personal information is revealed.

  • Homophily:
    Tendency to connect with similar people.

  • Nodes in a network:
    Individuals or entities in a social network.

  • Social network structures:
    Ways people are connected through relationships.

  • Rules of social networks:
    Patterns in connections, e.g., strong/weak ties.

  • Six degrees of Kevin Bacon:
    Everyone is connected within six steps.

  • Media Richness Theory:
    Some media better convey meaning (face-to-face > text).

  • Social Information Processing Theory:
    Online relationships can be meaningful; it takes longer.

  • Theory of Electronic Propinquity:
    Feeling of closeness during electronic communication.

  • Hyperpersonal relationships:
    Online relationships can become more intense than in-person.

  • Zoom exhaustion:
    Caused by eye contact, lack of cues, and constant self-awareness.

  • Human-machine communication:
    Interactions between people and digital systems like AI or chatbots.