On social media particularly, when you decide to share, or approve a post with Emojis or Memes, you should fully review the subject and decide if it is worthy of sharing.
The growth of “social media” should represent the growth of knowledge we have gained over the last decades, rather than prolific fake news.
Our web ecosystem is only as good as what we put in it. Improve it buy spreading information that adds value.
- Check your sources, do the work.
- Is it research, journalism or satire(comedy)?
- Headlines and photos DO NOT always represent well the associated content.
- Look for biases; often hidden in carefully crafted “opinions”.
- Is it still factual and current? Check dates, look for the sources again.
Even you are still not sure, the safer bet is NOT to share.
But we have tools for the new ERA of BS
Fortunately (and unfortunately really), there are ways to navigate thru the BS and even fight back.
Here are some resources for the new era we live in:
SOMA (Social Observatory for Disinformation and Social Media Analysis)
https://www.disinfobservatory.org/become-a-member/
Support the verification of digital (user-generated) content residing in social networks and elsewhere.
https://www.truly.media/
FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on the social media network.
https://www.factcheck.org/fake-news/
Lead Stories uses the Trendolizer™ engine to detect the most trending stories from known fake news, satire and prank websites and tries to debunk them as fast as possible. https://hoax-alert.leadstories.com/
Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC), founded in 2015, is an independent online media outlet. MBFC is dedicated to educating the public on media bias and deceptive news practices.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/
And remember, an effective weapon to combat fake news: education.
Be good folks, and let me know what you think ;-)
