Facebook is probably the most effective website where anybody and their grandma can curate their own news.
Scrolling the website not only familiarizes people with posts from their friends, but users see what their friends like and comment on. So as much as Facebook is a marketplace of ideas, itSA国际影视传媒檚 more like visiting a flea market. There is some valuable stuff to be found but there is also a lot of junk to wade through.
There are a few main ways news and information can be shared on Facebook. The first is the most straightforward - via the personal post.
Most posts are idly interesting things such as pictures of pets, food or children. Maybe some vacation pictures or a life update such as a graduation or engagement. But sometimes a person will make a post that seems like it could be legitimately newsworthy.
In July, Yellowknife resident Angus Durrie logged onto Facebook after an altercation with an Aurora Taxi driver. In the early morning hours of July 25, Durrie wrote, SA国际影视传媒淎urora Taxi in Yellowknife delivered me two black eyes instead of just home last night.SA国际影视传媒�
In the post, he goes on to explain how he had no cash and had forgotten not all cabs carry debit machines. According to Durrie, he explained the situation to the driver and asked to be taken to an ATM, and in lieu of that, offered to leave his contact information with the driver and pay the next day.
SA国际影视传媒�As I got out of the car, so did he. He started coming after me like he wanted a fight,SA国际影视传媒� he wrote.
SA国际影视传媒�He then smacked my phone out of hand, shattering the screen. I went low to avoid his fist and grabbed him by his waist, but he managed to pull me off and throw me to the ground, where he hit me five times in the face leaving me bleeding, concussed, with a broken phone, and out 20 bucks from the McD's order he threw out his window after peeling out of the parking lot knowing I wouldn't be able to remember his cab number.SA国际影视传媒�
The have since laid an assault charge against Aurora Taxi driver Matar Mahamed Mahamud, but itSA国际影视传媒檚 important to remember the public only knows one account of the incident SA国际影视传媒� Durrie's.
Beyond the personal Facebook post, people can share links. Sometimes those links are to established news organizations such as New York Times, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, CBC or BBC. People should regard these stories with the same level of scrutiny they use when they pick up a newspaper or turn on the cable news.
ItSA国际影视传媒檚 not uncommon to see links to purported news sites that are just viral content generators, such as Viralnova, Madworldnews.com, Redwhitebluenews.com or Worldnewspolitics.com. These links tend to be either complete fabrications or heavily biased versions of stories that have run in traditional media. For example, earlier this month North Korea announced it was seriously considering a strike on U.S. held Pacific island Guam. In response, it was widely reported Japan vowed a strong reaction and co-operation with the U.S. in the event North Korea actually does send missiles over JapanSA国际影视传媒檚 skies to Guam. An Aug. 10 Worldnewspolitics post shared by about 100 people on Facebook summed up this story with the headline SA国际影视传媒淛apan sends surprise to U.S. fleet in show of support to President Trump.SA国际影视传媒�
So, a story about an American ally co-operating with the U.S. military to counteract a threat to both nations was skewed into a partisan show of support, specifically for U.S. President Donald Trump.
The most pernicious way fake news travels across social media is via meme. After the Charlottesville rally earlier this month, a photo made the rounds supposedly showing a member of the Antifa -- a term used to describe the anti-fascist movement - beating up a police officer. The picture is in fact of a man beating up an officer during a 2009 riot in Greece, with an Antifa logo digitally added to the back of the hooded manSA国际影视传媒檚 sweatshirt.
Always question information shared via meme. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 easy to fact check via Google. If itSA国际影视传媒檚 real news, news stories supporting the incident will show up. If itSA国际影视传媒檚 not, internet fact-checking site Snopes is usually already on the case and will show up at the top of news results.
To help combat fake news, Facebook itself has changed the algorithms it uses to determine what shows up at the top of peopleSA国际影视传媒檚 feeds to weed out questionable material in favour of legitimate news sites, hired a team of people to investigate the veracity of news shared on the site and has given users a way to report posts themselves.
But on top of this, itSA国际影视传媒檚 always good to scrutinize information shared on Facebook. Grandma may be right about a lot of things, but just because she shared a picture of Antifa beating up a police officer doesnSA国际影视传媒檛 mean itSA国际影视传媒檚 true.
