With the prevalence of social media many people have started using it as a source for news updates. However, it is always important to fact-check to ensure the information you are receiving and maybe spreading is reliable and accurate.
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According to Pew Research Center, about 2/3 of Americans get their news from social media. The use of social media has evolved from being a method of staying connected with people around the globe to a source of information for the latest issues.
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The good thing about social media is it allows everyone to express their opinions and emotions with the world, but this also means anyone can say anything about a specific topic. Twitter has become the place to go for information about all types of things. The ability to tweet and comment under tweets with them being public to the world not just to your followers and friends. This gives the ability for people’s opinions to reach hundreds and thousands of people.
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In order to ensure the information you are receiving through social media is accurate, there are a couple of things you should do before believing what you read right away.
Firstly, check the source it is coming from, whether it be a verified account or a trusted writer.
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Secondly, ensure that other trusted news outlets have picked up on the story and what they have to say about it. Global agencies such as CNN, Reuters, and BBC have well trained reporters and certain guidelines to follow before releasing information. They are trained to post unbiased information, which is a good way to understand the situation before being bombarded with opinions and not fully understanding the situation
Thirdly, analyze the evidence at hand. A story that is credible will include quotes, data and statistics from people on the scene.
Lastly, don’t believe the images you see right away. Editing software programs have made it easy to create fake images to make them look real and alter real ones. Images could be real but used in the wrong context to make the story more appealing and receive more views.
These are just a couple of things you should do to ensure you are receiving accurate information on social media.
What do you think about getting news from social media?
Let us know in the comments below!