As the United States filled with election fever, Americans turned to news organizations and social media outlets as president Barack Obama and nominee Mitt Romney competed for presidency.
Students at the University of Maryland tuned into CNN, Facebook, Twitter and the Washington Post as votes were tallied on election night.
With early projections on social media that President Obama would serve for another four years, students often had check the accuracy of these results due to the overflow of information to which they were exposed.
Lexi Kostalansky, a senior at the University of Maryland, followed the election at home with her family.
Double-checking her friend’s Facebook comments with CNN, Kostalansky said, she became frustrated with some of the things her friends were posting.
“People were posting really ignorant things and that was really frustrating,
she said, “But I think it was neat to see how some people were using it in a positive way.”
Kostalansky’s roommate used Facebook to promote ballot Question 6.
“She has all kinds of stuff on Facebook, her profile picture changed and things that she would say would relate to it [Question 6],” Kostalansky said, “I guess leading up to the election it [social media] played a more important role than it would have a decade ago. “
While following CNN and the Washington Post’s website, government and politics major, Emily Hamrick eagerly tuned into the election night.
“I read a lot about how polarized the ideologies are and how the country is in general, and you don’t see any moderation on social media,” Hamrick said.
“People obviously use social media to put their beliefs out there and say who they think you should vote for,” Hamrick said, “But I think a lot of the comments were really extreme, and then people start commenting back and it starts a whole Facebook fight.”
As news is consumed through every angle of human life, students are forced to choose which outlets are reliable, and which are not.