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Non-scientific Internet polls and news
 * Pseudo-Event [1] Merrin. (2002). Implosion, simulation and the pseudo-event: a critique of McLuhan. Economy and Society, 31(3), 369–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085140220151855

Non-scientific Internet polls have been increasingly popular as a conversational tool on websites and major news outlets. This method is used to invite participants to take a survey, which can generate thousands of responses or more. These polls are self-selected and can be used to drive more traffic to the website, which can cause the need for more news and generate more revenue. The large volume of responses can improve the image that is being reported rather than the news content itself. Participants can believe that their participation in these polls can contribute to the reported online survey's topic. Jack Fuller, President of Tribune Publishing Company, has touched on this topic and how this form of gathering information for non-scientific reasons can be inauthentic. The use of these online polls as news content can place scientific polls used for research to be equally as legitimate when that is often not the case. Boorstin has noted that these pseudo-events' main goals are meeting increased demands for more news and revenue generation.

Boorstin. (1962). The image or what happened to the American dream The image, or, What happened to the American dream. Atheneum,.

Michael L. Kent, Tyler R. Harrison & Maureen Taylor (2006) A Critique of Internet Polls as Symbolic Representation and Pseudo-Events, Communication Studies, 57:3, 299-315, DOI: 10.1080/10510970600845941

Pseudo- Event Information:'

Looking into the theorist Marshal McLuhan, the pseudo event has been viewed as an event that is separate from reality and is to simply satisfy our need for constant excitement and interest in pop culture. Merrin states that these events are, "‘planned, planted, or incited . . . for the immediate purpose of being reported or reproduced (Merrin, 2002)[1]."

Reference

[1] Merrin. (2002). Implosion, simulation and the pseudo-event: a critique of McLuhan. Economy and Society, 31(3), 369–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085140220151855