Five tips to avoid misinformation on social media sites- Election edition
It’s election season and more Americans are getting their news from social media. (Go here for the latest research on Americans trusting social media as a news source)
How do you know the information you’re seeing on social media is true?
Here are five tips to avoid misinformation on social media platforms.
Understand that social media's goal is to keep you scrolling on their app, so they're going to show you content that provokes emotions or outrage, not content that's necessarily true. It’s not their mission to provide accurate information. It’s their mission to entertain and spread emotional states.
Realize the headlines of many articles are written to be “Clickbait” - the goal of Clickbait is to make you click on the story because you’re curious about the headline, even if the headline is misleading or has nothing to do with the actual story.
Assume the information is not true if you're seeing it on social media, even if a friend posted it. Many people aren’t fact checking before they repost and respond to outrageous articles.
Fact check information yourself
Using websites that end in .gov .edu and .org sources (not .com)
Using a third party source like Snopes.com to check out rumors
Using independent websites that compile information on politicians, their voting records, who funds them
Using the Washington Post’s Fact Checker with the Pinocchio awards for mistruths told
Using a candidate’s official website
Get more than one perspective on an article or claim