Avoiding Fake News

Scrolling through my Facebook news feed, I often question which posts are reliable or not. It is not the posts from “The New York Times” or “The Huffington Post” that make me question Facebook’s credibility, but instead posts from “UNILAD” or “Everything News.” Especially with recent allegations against Facebook for foreign influence operations through their site, Facebook users should look further into the information they find on social media. So, how should one decide if information found on Facebook is authentic?

To determine the validity of a post, Facebook users should stop scrolling and click through. By just reading the headline of a post, there can be a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of information. Clicking on the link and reading the information behind a post can reveal whether or not the source is believable.

Users should also do further research to find out if that information comes from a factual source. The phrase “don’t believe everything you hear on the internet” stands true, which is why fact-checking is important. Of course, when scrolling past a post from “BBC” or “The Wall Street Journal,” most people do not question its integrity, but a post from a random troll account could reveal otherwise.

It is unfortunate how such a powerful social media site is being mistreated with the use of fake news and the spread of false information. However, it has been recognized that Facebook is making efforts to improve their site and validate their authenticity. With this realization, hopefully users will start to become more cautious about where they are receiving their information from. Read more here: https://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-news-feed-algorithm-authenticity-timing/

5 thoughts on “Avoiding Fake News

  1. I really enjoyed reading your article. You brought up many interesting points in regards to what makes Facebook valid and not valid. I liked how you incorporated a tweet to present how much of what we see on social media platforms can fall under “fake news”. I agreed with you that we cannot trust an online news article to be authentic only based on their headline, we must read the full content to get a better perspective. I also liked how you ended your article on a positive note by including an article to how Facebook is trying to improve their authenticity and reliability.

  2. Hi Nicole! I really like the fact that your article sheds light on a mindful use of social media. Each user can man an effort to destroy the power of fake news by simply questioning articles from rather unreliable sources.

  3. Hi Nicole! I really like the fact that your article sheds light on a mindful use of social media. Each user can make an effort to destroy the power of fake news by simply questioning articles from rather unreliable sources.

  4. The first tweet you included is the truth if I’ve ever heard it. It seems like people these days always click before they think. I’m a journalism student so I’m always inclined to check my sources, so it’s easy to forget that not everyone uses the internet this way. In fact most people don’t, and that’s what’s so scary.

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