WAIT IS IT FAKE: Fake It Until You Make It
Breaking News: Fake News Is Not New
Fake news is deliberate disinformation that spreads via social media or other sources. Hoaxes, propaganda, satire, and other types of fake news have been around since the news industry started. Satirical websites like The Onion fool people every day by sharing fake local, national, and international news. There are hundreds of websites out there contributing to these lies.
In a world where fake news is not new, why can’t society determine the difference between fact and fiction? It’s because everything about fake news looks real on the surface. Creators want viewers to buy into the lie that their fake news has to offer. The sad reality is we all have fallen for it at one time or another, since we can’t always tell the difference.
You may be wondering, “How easy could it possibly be to create something fake?” Well, we live in a digital world with access to many tools for manipulation. Beyond that, most of us connect with the closest people in our lives on social media who would never expect us to share fake news on our page. They trust us too much to think that we would do something like that.
Sharing Fake News: Easy to Do, Hard to Handle
So, what happens when we share fake news on our personal social media accounts? For my latest assignment in my Social Media class at Juniata College, I had to create or find a fake news story to spread. In order for this study to be successfully, we had to do this and create engagement with our friends, family, and followers. And let me tell you something, it was easier than I expected.
While sharing a fake story was easy to do, it was hard for me to handle. Overall, it was a personal challenge for me to do this. I absolutely hate lying. I believe if you “tell a lie once and all your truths become questionable.” So, when I had to become a liar for this assignment, I felt terrible. I wasn’t staying true to myself. I was ignoring the honest quality that is a part of my identity. Nancy Baym says, “[Identities] are made, displayed, and reshaped through interaction… [Personal identity] is shaped though social observations of, comparisons to, interactions with, and feedback from others,” (Baym 118). I was altering my online identity and straying away from my morals all for a good grade. However, I learned some valuable lessons in the process of interacting and getting feedback from my Facebook friends.
My Fake Tattoo: Reactions and Responses
So, how did I do the assignment? I used the app InkHunter Pro to place an eagle tattoo on my shoulder. I shared the photo on Facebook with a personalized caption to make the post more believable. I said that I got the tattoo to honor my Pap who recently passed away. And then, I waited. I was filled with dread and worry. How would people respond? Would they call me out on my lie? Would they even know that I was lying? In a matter of a day, I had 133 reactions (84 likes, 47 loves, and 2 wows) and 36 comments. I was anxious and wanted to confess the entire time engagement kept increasing. Honestly, I don’t know how people do this.
Once the engagement stopped, I shared a status announcing that the post was fake. Would anyone ever trust me again? Would they react negatively? Would the people I love and care about unfriend me and never speak to me again? For this post, I ended up with 57 likes (30 likes, 20 hahas, 6 loves, and 1 wow) and 28 comments — and no one decided that they didn’t want to speak to me ever again!
I was surprised at how sincere and kind the reactions were about my post. My family and friends are as opinionated as I am, so I was expecting a lot of them to be angry or react negatively (especially since I lied about something so personal in connection to my Pap). However, they were all understanding of my choice. My favorite reaction was from my Gram who reminded me that my Pap would always be with me, even after she learned the post was fake.
Lesson Learned: Keep Good Company
Throughout the entire thing, I learned:
1. The people I associate myself with don’t want to be mean or rude about people’s choices, even if they don’t agree with that choice or believe that it is true.
2. The people I associate myself with genuinely care about other people and express that with kind words and considerate comments.
3. The people I associate myself with love and care about me to the point that they accept my decisions without question and trust that I will be honest.
These three lessons prove that a person can find information about someone else based on their connections. Baym says that “seeing someone within the context of their connections provides the viewer with information about them. Social status, political beliefs, musical tastes, etc., may be inferred from the company one keeps,” (Baym 133). No matter what social status, religious or political beliefs, gender or sexual identity, or any other part of their identity that my Facebook friends choose to share with me and their other followers, I know that I keep good company.
InkHunter Pro App: $0.99
Heartfelt Reactions: priceless
Evaluating News Sources: Fact or Fiction
Now, we can determine the reliability of our news and evaluate our sources. We need to ask three questions: 1) Who is the creator? 2) What is the message? and 3) Why was this created? These three questions help us determine if the news is crap or has CRAAP (currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose). The CRAAP Test acts as test to check the objectivity and reliability of sources across academic disciplines.
Despite all the fake news in our lives, Baym discusses how people are more likely to be truthful online. She explains, “Whether anonymous or identifiable, people seem at least as likely to be more honest online than off. Reduced social cues make it easier to lie, but separation, time lags, and sparse cues also remove social pressures that make lying seem [like] a good idea,” (Baym 127). So, most people know that lying won’t make connections more personal and valuable. Plus, I have learned that I surround myself with good people. That I am glad to have proven to be true.
References
Baym, Nancy K. “New relationships, new selves?” Personal Connections in the Digital Age. 2nd ed., Polity, 2018. 112–141.
