The results of a research conducted on Instagram pages providing historical content show that most of these pages are devoid of accurate material based on scientific evidence and are mostly designed to attract an audience independent of media literacy.
According to ISNA, in recent years, new technologies in smartphones and the types of communication programs that are installed on these phones, provide the field of easy communication and exchange of information, more than ever, for people of all ages and educational groups with intellectual orientations And has provided various policies. The presence of people in social networks is one of the special communication features of the present age, so that it seems to contemporary man not to use these communication tools is impossible or very difficult. One of the most popular social networks is Instagram, which has been introduced to users as a mobile application and as a "video social media", and due to these features, it has found a special place in the daily lives of millions of users.
Content on Instagram, according to researchers, has a very wide range and variety, including historical topics. Producers of historical content on Instagram are divided into several main categories based on researchers' research:
1) official public and private research centers;
2) Researchers and scholars who share the results of their historical research and scientific views;
3) Historical archives and databases that share selected documents;
4) Publishers of historical magazines and books that introduce the latest publications, and
5) natural persons, who publish historical content only as a content to attract the attention of followers.
In this regard, a researcher from the University of Radio and Television has conducted a study in which Persian historical pages on the social network Instagram have been analyzed with the approach of media literacy.
In this research, the researcher has tried to achieve a better understanding of this phenomenon and answer the research questions with a phenomenological approach and using the method of interviewing the users of these pages due to the lack of studies. In this study, users were asked about the content of seven personal history pages on Instagram, which had many followers, about content credibility, valuation for subscription, encouragement of historical study, and impact on users' historical knowledge.
The results of these studies show that such pages in the method of content production follow the general patterns of virtual networks and have not considered the importance of content validity in publishing historical content. Their content is far from neutral and biased and does not encourage the audience to learn more.
Vida Hamraz, an assistant professor and researcher in the radio department of the production faculty of the Radio and Television University, says: "There is no specialized and important content like history."
He adds: "Historical content, in the eyes of the operators of these pages, like any other content, is provided only to increase followers and, most likely, to generate advertising revenue. "Although the capacity to send text and images is limited, the choice of subject and image and style of writing the text is mostly historical information and lacks scientific source and credibility."
According to these findings, the type of content and the way it is presented do not contribute to the development of knowledge and historical literacy of society; In fact, in this way, an important communication opportunity in the field of increasing historical knowledge and literacy in the society is lost. But the important thing is that a large number of users have access to such content, which they publish regardless of the accuracy of this content. Obviously, there is no practical way to restrict these pages, given the prevailing practice on social media, and these pages continue to operate.
But Hamraz believes, "What is important is the lack of effective presence of researchers and historians on social media to disseminate historical knowledge and interact with users in new ways. "It can be said that many historians still rely on traditional methods of verbal face-to-face communication or the dissemination of written information through history books and articles, while the pace of change in the field of communication and media has opened up new opportunities."
These scientific research findings, published in the "Media" quarterly of the Deputy Minister of Press and Information of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, not only confirm the importance of the purposeful presence of history experts in virtual networks to produce credible and effective content. , But also emphasize the need to improve media literacy and increase the power of message analysis by users.
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Source: ISNA
