Social Media Society: Stay skeptical about social media stories

As I enjoy my morning coffee, my phone sits in my hand in place of a newspaper. I check my social media and different headlines flood my feed. One reads that Taylor Swift died from an allergic reaction to sleeping pills. I completely freak out but then I think, that cannot be true. A simple Google search confirms my suspicions. Why would any user lie about that? 

Since it is so commonplace, many young people get their news solely from social media. This poses a huge problem considering much of it is inaccurate. The fact is, anyone can post almost anything on these platforms. Neither the user’s credibility nor that of their story matters.

With my journalism schooling, it is easy to be aware of the dangers of these news outlets when better alternatives have been made known to me early on during instruction. Prior to higher education, I am sure I fell subject to these phony stories like everyone else does. Thankfully, I believe there is a reason and solution for this phenomenon. 

Social media applications include everything users might look to other platforms for, including news. Switching to different windows seems entirely too laborious when you have everything at your fingertips without even searching for it. Though it can help bring fast attention to issues we may not have noted otherwise, it is essential to fact check the information.

Just as we all would be skeptical about Swift’s supposed allergic reaction, other news stories found on social media should be no different in the reactions people meet them with. If there is a crucial topic to be discussed, these applications can serve to prompt users to do more research at the most. There can be no guarantee of factual accuracy in what is published on social media. 

The main difference is that the process for publishing a story in a news media outlet ensures credible journalists adhere to high standards of truth. First, they must pitch or be assigned the story. Then, they must find the ideal sources and interview them. After that, they put together the piece with both their own research and information they gained from the sources. Finally, editors must approve the story before it can be published. 

Meanwhile, fake accounts on social media call themselves journalists, write something up and press post. It only takes one person to believe them before the fallacies begin spreading like wildfire. 

This kind of deception happens more than we think on social media. The misinformation we absorb can seem less obvious when simply scrolling through our daily content. Because it is all displayed in the same format, we confuse serious news stories and entertainment content, making it hard to distinguish when something is false. However, we do not need to sacrifice convenience. Instead of opening up your preferred platform in the morning, make a habit of opening up a news application. The iPhone has a built-in application but there are various others available for quick download. Start your day with the facts rather than likely falling into the typical trap of scrolling through potentially false social media content.

Of course, one goal of journalists is to capture the reader’s attention, which could incentivize them to embellish the truth, but that does not supersede delivering facts. After all, it is highlighted in the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics that only truth must be reported and it is a journalist’s job to ensure that it is accurate.

Undoubtedly, the effortless option is to continue to fall in line with the majority of users who will continue to accept what they see on social media as sufficient. On the other hand, you may proceed as an informed citizen and challenge what you see on these platforms. Stay skeptical — there is good reason to be.