{"id":627,"date":"2020-01-29T14:37:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T11:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/?p=627"},"modified":"2022-10-13T16:10:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:10:48","slug":"6-tips-for-spotting-and-keeping-off-fake-news-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/2020\/01\/29\/6-tips-for-spotting-and-keeping-off-fake-news-on-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Tips for Spotting and Keeping off Fake News on Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Di Gan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This blog post was produced as part of the course \u201cSocial Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States\u201d at the University of Turku.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fake news, one of the most typical\nrepresentations of deception in the media world, used to be regarded as a type\nof serious mistake in journalism. However, with the emerging social media, new\nforms of journalism have been thriving. They are more immediate, individual,\nand interactive than the traditional ones. The definition of journalists has\nbegun to broaden and to exclude the requirements of professionalism. The amount\nof fake news is sharply increasing with a flood of citizen journalists and\nready access to computer technical skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.fi\/books?id=UC-RDwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA49&amp;lpg=PA49&amp;dq=The+citizen+journalist+model+does+not+care+about+accuracy,+verification,+objectivity,+balance,+and+truth+telling;+what+he+is+interested+in+is+spontaneous;+and+quick+publication+of+anything+at+hands+assuming+the+responsibility+of+the+users+to+verify+or+not+to+verify+what+they+consume&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=6odQIIkKtX&amp;sig=ACfU3U1Te1JGfMADkJTCQhAgoyDDSCL6SQ&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjWnIiFgafmAhXRrIsKHWuoBBwQ6AEwAHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\">Professor Basyouni Hamada<\/a> once pointed out the defects of the\ntrendy forms of journalism that seem to have increased the probability of fake\nnews: \u201cThe citizen journalist model does not care about accuracy, verification,\nobjectivity, balance, and truth telling; what he is interested in is\nspontaneous; and quick publication of anything at hands assuming the\nresponsibility of the users to verify or not to verify what they consume.\u201d\nTherefore, it is time to learn some techniques for spotting the false stories\nin order to avoid getting duped. Here are six tips for identifying fake news in\nsocial media: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Check the Original Posters <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a basic step to make a preliminary\njudgement on whether the story might be false. Try using the list below to\nexamine the credibility of the news source: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Individuals <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Are you familiar with the poster? <\/li><li>Does this poster have a history of\nunusual claims? Does this seem to be a newly created profile? <\/li><li>Is there a reliable byline, introduction\nor any information to prove the person\u2019s expertise? <\/li><li>Do a Google search of the poster for\nmore information about his or her identity and professionalism. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Institutions <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Are you familiar with the\ninstitution? <\/li><li>Does the organization have an \u201cabout\nus\u201d link? Read the \u201cAbout Us\u201d section for more insight into the publisher,\nleadership, and mission statement. <\/li><li>Is the author listed on the site, or\nis there an \u201cabout me\u201d section? <\/li><li>What is the domain name? \u201c.gov,\u201d\n\u201c.edu,\u201d and \u201c.org\u201d appear more credible than \u201c.com.co,\u201d \u201c.net,\u201d and other\nunusual top-level domain names. <\/li><li>Don\u2019t be distracted by\nofficial-looking forms or trademarks. <\/li><li>Don\u2019t let your guard down even if it\nis a well-known or influential institution. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Scrutinize the Headlines <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nowadays the headlines on social media are\ndesigned to be eye-popping in order to induce users to share posts rather than\nevaluate or even read the content. Fake news frequently use headlines as\nclickbait. Be critical and try your best to avoid complete trust at first\nglance. Skepticism helps you to stay alert to unauthentic reports with\noutrageous, misleading, or suggestive diction in their headlines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Apply Common Sense <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>UFOs, aliens, ghosts, time travel, zombies, and\nother abnormal or supernatural phenomena could be elements of fake news that\nare easier to spot than manipulation or falsification rooted in the material\nworld. However, you might still be fooled if there is a trace of belief in\ntheir existence hidden in your mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Verify with Multiple Coverages from\nDifferent Sources <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is probably the most useful and convenient\napproach to confirming whether a piece of news you read is fake. Peer\ncomparison is an effective way to expose those that are unauthentic. Be cautious\nwith possible opposing viewpoints related to ideologies, political systems,\nreligions, traditions, etc. behind different coverages. There could be\ncontroversies on certain issues and it may be hard to define which ones are\nfalse news. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Utilize Tools to Debunk Fake Images <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t rely on graphics or videos because your\neyes can be deceived with the support of technology. Editing photos and videos or\neven using \u201cdeepfakes\u201d and \u201cshallowfakes\u201d are witty means to convince people to\nbelieve the fake news. Fortunately, there are tools that can help you check\nwhether an image is real or manipulated. Here are some you can try: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.labnol.org\/reverse\/\">Google\u2019s Reverse Image\nSearch<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=fake_image_detector.coder.genuine.com.fakeimagedetector&amp;hl=en\">Fake\nImage Detector<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tineye.com\/\">TinEye<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6.\nAsk Professional Fact-checking Media Organizations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/\">FactCheck.org<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poynter.org\/category\/fact-checking\/\">International\nFact-Checking Network (IFCN)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/\">PolitiFact.com<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/\">Snopes.com<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Di Gan This blog post was produced as part of the course \u201cSocial Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States\u201d at the University of Turku. Fake news, one of the most typical representations of deception in the media world, used to be regarded as a type of serious mistake in journalism. However, with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-students-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19734"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}