Digital Smarts - Misinformation – How Facts and Fiction Intermingle on Social Media

Now that nearly two-thirds of Americans get at least some of their news from social media, we all need to stop and think about how our biases and our exposure to misinformation affects the way we perceive the news and even how we fight against false claims. The New York Times recently featured an article entitled How Fiction Becomes Fact on Social Media that focuses on just those concerns.

The article reminds us that it is our, often subconscious, psychological biases that make so many of us vulnerable to misinformation. Skepticism about what we read as “news” online is a good start. However, our own innate biases will let certain things pass as “likely,” researchers have found. We all need to remember that Facebook, Google, and Twitter have their own skin in the game and that they are serving up “juicy” news and information that keeps us coming back for more. It’s so easy to pass along stories before you have a chance to really think about them or look at the source. Repetition can also make a story seems credible if you read the same news headline over and over again. As one expert put it, “We overweight information from people we know.” This Sounds like the way news was passed around back in high school, doesn’t it?