Evaluation of Social Media

In this blog post, I will analyze two social media sources on their take on the sucralose controversy. I will judge them based on credibility and who the post is coming from.

Pacific Crest

Source 1: Natural Health Sherpa

This video was posted by a group that calls themselves"Natural Health Sherpa." They are a team consisting of a MD, and some natural health writers, and their goal is to inform the public about the risk factors around us.

They are located in Wilmington, North Carolina. They are directly involved with the controversy because they are advocating against sucralose.

Their youtube channel has over 35,000 subscribers since they joined in 2010. They are considered to have institutional credibility, and so the majority of people who follow them just want to learn from what they have to say.

They refer to the 2006 Journal of Headaches, which is in fact a credible source. They also talk about how sucralose was discovered, and their facts are correct.

This is the only post that they have on artificial sweeteners. However, all of their posts are in the same genre, which is health and well-being.

This account is 5 years old. Their website is copyright 2015, and contains current and up to date articles.

This source is reliable. They have their own website, and utilize social media in order to post videos and connect with viewers.

Source 2: Your Health Expert

This video was posted by Dr. Matthew Loop. He is a MD, and also the author of the book "Cracking the Cancer Code."

After visiting his personal website, and youtube account, I have no idea where he is located. He has something to say about sucralose (that he doesn't think people should eat it), but I would not consider him directly involved.

His youtube channel has 600 subscribers. He is definitely not as big as Natural Health Sherpa.

He does not site any sources in his video. Since he is a MD, it may be fair to assume that he knows what sucralose is and why it's bad.

This post is the only video on artificial sweeteners. His format is more like a volg, so he just talks about what he feels like for the week.

The account was made in 2008. His most recent video is from 5 years ago, so it seems safe to assume that he no loner posts to his account.

The source is a bit questionable. He has published a book, and is a MD, but he seems outdated, which is the main reason for question.