The answer, of course, is a resounding no; it is far from crystallizing a useful and clear public opinion that everyone can benefit from for the public good with objectivity, credibility, and maturity, away from distortion, fabrication, and superficiality. These are all harmful and misleading factors, in the absence of which the constructive, enlightened public opinion—which elevates values, facts, science, knowledge, and ethical systems—is lost to vulgarity, name-calling, insults, and inferiority in presentation and content, as well as futile debates that hold no value or benefit.
The essence of social media, in all its channels and tools, should be a beacon and a fertile environment for forming and shaping productive, vital, constructive, and mature public opinion that becomes a necessity for everyone to review, analyze, and propose solutions. It should not turn into a curse by being filled with worthless inputs, which are often grounds for condemnation and rejection. Unfortunately, this deprives the majority on social media of building an opinion and a civilized counter-opinion, and consequently, of forming a public opinion with directions and outcomes that respect the law, ethics, diversity of opinion, and the culture of dialogue, serving the public interest in various aspects of life.
Regrettably, the decline and degradation of content witnessed on social media sites have led many users to freeze, abandon, or close their accounts after becoming weary of seeking facts, enlightenment, and objective, constructive discussion. Instead, they have faced waves of bullying, misinformation, fabrication, and claims of possessing the truth that are far from the simplest principles of truth and objectivity.
Often, those with knowledge, wisdom, expertise, and objectivity have disappeared from the sight of social media users and followers, as they see no place for themselves amidst this chaos, which is saturated with insults, abuse, nihilism, and the intentional spread of pessimism and gloom. At the same time, there is a deliberate and premeditated disregard for the positives, optimism, and the culture of hope deeply rooted in the conscience of societies on the ground, which are distorted and falsified in a virtual world that has no basis in reality.
In parallel with all this deterioration of a large portion of content on social media, the task of searching for a productive, fair, and responsible public opinion seems almost impossible.
