#onlineaccessibility

The boom of the internet came in the mid 90’s and early 2000’s; now going into 2030 and shifting through such “proliferations of search algorithms” that have “completely overhauled the way data, information, science and opinions are assessed, evaluated, trusted and scrutinised” (ESPAS, 2018, pg. 3). The use of the internet has “created a paradox” that has “facilitated the diversification of the “online” media environment” (ESPAS, 2018, pg. 3). This has allowed users among social media to access information that otherwise wouldn’t be available to them offline according to the ESPAS. In 2030 businesses and workers will use the accessibility of information to reach their clients through the use of social media in ways that we can’t even imagine in today’s world because “people’s exposure to the news, civic information that is mediated through online social networks ...has grown (ESPAS, 2018, pg. 3). For example, companies like Google and Facebook account for “68 percent of online news” (ESPAS, 2018, pg. 18) that is accessed by users while “32 percent accessed directly via the original news publishers…” (ESPAS, 2018, pg. 3). The workers who work at the social media companies use algorithms that are “shown to be influencing the news and opinions that users are exposed to” (ESPAS, 2018, pg. 3). When we look to 2030 we can see a trend that the types of micro-targeting by these companies and they will affect the way journalists and people who work in news. Going into 2030 we will see “micro-targeting, combined with tailored news-feeds algorithms, can create parallel universes, with users’ perceptions of the real world becoming distorted through the lens of social media” (ESPAS, 2018, pg. 4).