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Five Ways to Effectively Spot Fake News
Even the internet has made easier than to disprove hearsay, there is still a lot of disinformation that goes viral due to famous social media sharing as part of services of different social media accounts. Thanks to the people working around checking reliability and credibility of news that spread on the internet. My work as an independent consultant, I am tasked to perform social media evaluation. I also review and rate social media content using a web application to support the measurement of data relevance. Based on the detailed criteria, I evaluate web contents. I learned a lot from it and that’s the reason why I have to mention to you the five ways to identify fake news from factual news.
Here are, at least five ways to effectively spot fake news on the internet that may be helpful in trying to discern whether the one you will be sharing is either a real news or a fake news.
- Check the Source. Browsing away from the story you are reading to investigate the site, its mission, and its contact information using other sources is a great help to identify how true the source is.
- Consider the Author. You might want to find out who is the writer of the report you are reading. Pseudonyms and posers are rampant on the internet that has questionable personalities. Ask whether these are real persons or not.
- Read Beyond. Click baits are enticing and re-directing the vulnerable readers to different sources. Headlines can be exaggerating in an effort to get clicks.
- Check for supporting Sources. Check the source and determine if the information is giving facts supporting the story.
- Is it a Joke? Satire and parody articles exist and some readers just ever ready believe what they have read without discerning the credibility and reliability of facts given. These somehow appears to be true but done in a way that it amuses readers only.
Reseach the site and author to make sure.
The term “fake news” has taken on its own life, referring to false reports and used to dismiss news that the readers do not wish to agree with.
With those hints mentioned above, do not commit mistakes in sharing fake news anymore.
Do you have something in mind that you wish to say? Please leave a comment below.
