82 Transcript and key 7: They were mostly false/incorrect. 8: alternative facts Exploring vocabulary: Can we believe influencers? (Key) a)–b) Individual answers Test practice: Can we believe influencers? (Transcript and key) In the last few years, social media sites have been growing immensely in size from about 2.73 billion users to a projected 5.86 billion people in 2027, which means that more than half of the world population will be interconnected with each other. Whoever has access to the internet can create and publish their messages for a worldwide audience. In traditional journalism, facts are checked and double-checked before publication. The reputation of the publication, be it a newspaper or a book, would be at risk if there were obvious mistakes or even fake news. On social media there is nothing like that. It is only important to increase the number of clicks a message receives. Now what has all that got to do with influencers? Aren’t they important for marketing reasons? Aren’t they a grassroots phenomenon that helps generate business or channels political views? The answer is not clear-cut. Of course, influencers can be useful in that they create a certain demand or fire it up. The key question is: Are there any mechanisms that would allow the reader of such content to find out whether the influencers of their choice speak the truth, whether their findings are genuine, whether their arguments are valid? Ultimately, users are unable to find out, even though some influencers try to boost their credibility by closely communicating with their followers. It is impossible to check the identity of a blogger, to gain insight into the publication process. A YouTube video which appears to be rather plain and looks as if it were produced by a wellmeaning, self-taught expert sharing their private views could have been produced by a highly professional company, the influencer could be an actor playing a part. How are we supposed to know? The expertise that is offered by influencers does not need to be up to date or even accurate either. Interacting with followers is certainly a valuable social activity, but it should be seen as what it is. It cannot be a proof of reliability. In the long run, it is important to see the activities of influencers as a form of entertainment rather than as a reliable source of knowledge. The mere fact that somebody can use the internet and can write a text does not mean that this person is an expert in their respective field. Being an influencer is often a business model to generate income for the people themselves rather than creating a serious and reliable source of information. What that means for the average user is clear: People need to be extra careful when they use these sites and they should be aware that nothing is what it seems when it comes to influencers on the net. 0: d, 1: c, 2: a, 3: c, 4: d, 5: b, 6: c, 7: a 13 Nature and the environment Exploring vocabulary: Environmental issues (Key) a)–b) Individual answers Identifying redundant passages (Key) 1. 10, 2. 14, 3. 9, 4. 13, 5. 8, 6. 12, 7. 11 Test practice: Extinction programmes (Transcript and key) Ah, welcome to our guided tour of our preservation project here on Lundy. Erm … my name is James, and I am the ranger in charge of this section of the project. Erm … I’m sure you’ve heard about what we’re doing here and why. Erm, to sum it up, we are trying to preserve the native bird population by protecting them against predatory species. These are animals which are not native to this island and which endanger the native bird population as they have no natural enemies. Gradually they were about to wipe out the local birdlife. Now, you might ask how all this could happen. Well, over the years animals like rats, mice, stray cats, etc. got to this island, probably on boats and ships when they landed here. As these predatory animals had no natural enemies, they could freely reproduce and their numbers grew rapidly. These species, however, could only survive because they decimated the local birds in large numbers, driving some of them into extinction. So, erm, some bird species were able to survive in other places, some were reduced to only a handful. So anyway, at this point we heard about a programme that had been very successful in New Zealand. You may know that originally there were no mammals in New Zealand. So, as a consequence the birds in New Zealand could develop freely without natural enemies which 4 5 + 41 1 2 3 + 42 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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