Social Media Usage in Times of Crisis – How to avoid Fake News

How can users identify fake news and build a broad and objective overview of current topics on social media?
Sandra Bloem

Social media has its beauty, but also its shadows. It is easy to spread and come across false information or so-called fake news on all kinds of networks. When facing a global crisis or war crimes, these postings increase extremely.

But how can users identify fake news or build a broad and objective overview of current topics shared on social media?

 

We have collected a few steps to consider when using social media:

  1. Follow updates by qualified news broadcasts that are known to be trustworthy. Most of them are also present on TikTok or Instagram.
  2. Compare news to see whether this information is checked and confirmed by multiple other sources.
  3. Check the source and the author. Who is sharing this information? Are they trustworthy? Are they journalists? What other content did they share?
  4. Try to get information in multiple languages and compare them.
  5. Avoid live streams on social media that only show landscapes or sensitive footage without any context or introduction about the person behind these streams. 
  6. Google reverse pictures and/or check if a video seems familiar to see if they have been published before elsewhere. Often, these images are taken out of other contexts and are misused. 
  7. Hold social media platforms accountable and report false information. They need your help to find these posts.
  8. Don’t share information that you feel unsure of. 

 

But the most important tip is to build a critical mindset when using social media.

 

 

Our expert

Sandra Bloem

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Sandra joined Cocomore in June 2021 as a Corporate Communication Manager. She is part of our Seville Office team and constantly raves about the tapas in her new home country. Besides exploring Spain with her camera, she enjoys learning new languages, discussing movies and TV shows (she studied something with media *cough*), and spends her time cracking the algorithm of Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.