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Beyond the Headline: How We Decide What to Believe

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EXPLAINER @jorgebscomm for @empowervmedia Photo: Lisa Fotios via Pexels · Pexels License Seeing, sharing and believing are different activities. Understanding their relationship helps explain why information can circulate widely without becoming reliable knowledge. S omeone shares a sensational headline on social media. It receives hundreds of reactions, travels through several group chats and eventually appears in a discussion about public policy. What does this tell us? We know the message circulated. We cannot conclude that everyone who shared it believed it, understood its evidence or intended to persuade others. A person may forward an article to question it, express concern, entertain friends or signal membership of a group. Communication behaviour does not have a single meaning. This is where epistemic communication becomes useful as an analytical perspective: it asks how claims move between people, what gives them...
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Character Assassination, Repetition and the Erosion of Trust: The Anatomy of a Smear

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Critical Analysis @jorgebscomm for @empowervmedia A reputational attack can acquire force through repetition, amplification and fragmented networks of trust. 📷 @empowervmedia A smear campaign does more than communicate something negative. It attempts to reorganise how a person is interpreted, shifting attention from evidence, arguments or actions toward a damaging story about character. In digital information environments, repetition, identity, uncertainty and amplification can give that story a life far beyond its original source. C haracter assassination is defined by George Mason University’s Character Assassination and Reputation Protection lab as the deliberate destruction of an individual’s reputation or credibility through character attacks. Those attacks are public and intentional. That distinction matters: criticism, investigation and accountability can da...
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Location: Australia
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The Personality Architects of Digital Dependence: Who Gets Hooked on Facebook, and Why?

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Digital dependence is a public health crisis accelerated by platform design exploiting our core personalities.   (📷:choosehelp) T he landscape of modern life is inextricably woven with online social networks, a phenomenon exemplified by the massive scale of global engagement. Today, approximately 4.8 billion people worldwide are actively utilising social media platforms , a figure that reflects the unparalleled success of platforms like Facebook in providing connection and information. Yet, embedded within this massive user base is a burgeoning crisis of digital dependency, known scientifically as Problematic Facebook Use (PFU) or Facebook Use Disorder (FUD). This is not merely frequent engagement but a pattern of functional impairment characterised by addiction-like symptoms: a manifest inability to control usage, the experience of withdrawal when disconnected, the neglect of important real-world activities in favour of screen time, and ultimately, facing significant negative con...
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Location: Australia
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