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If you’re a small business owner, you need to be aware of the perils of fake news on social media. Posting misinformation (or, even worse, disinformation) can lead to reputation risk for your business. Your fans, followers, and supporters are counting on you for authenticity and facts, not rumors and baseless speculation.
So if you start posting information that’s wrong, biased, or designed to deceive, that’s only going to hurt you over the long haul. With that in mind, here are a few brief tips to help you identify fake news on social media.
Tip #1: Check for sources
This might sound obvious, but it’s important to know where the information is coming from in the first place. In other words, is this information coming from a trusted, third-party news site, or is it coming from a site that speculates in conspiracy theories? Generally speaking, news that has been independently verified is much safer to post than unconfirmed rumors or news that has been attributed to “anonymous sources.”
Tip #2: Understand the bias of those sources
Until recently, you could pretty much count on news sites to offer unbiased takes on events, but that’s no longer the case today in the current highly polarized political environment. Everyone has an angle, a bias, or a narrative they want to spread. Thus, always be aware of the “agenda” of the source you are using. This is especially true for anything involving high-profile political figures.
Tip #3: Beware the algorithms
Keep in mind that, if you are seeing certain content on your social media feeds, it’s for a reason. Each social media platform has highly sophisticated algorithms, many of them powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. So each piece of content is served up with one single goal: to get you to click and engage. Often, this means offering you content that confirms your own bias. So be careful what you click on, and what you share with others.
Tip #4: Don’t fall into the TL;DR trap
On the internet, TL;DR means “too long; didn’t read” and it perfectly explains how most people consume content on the internet. People see a headline, read the first sentence or two, and immediately think they know what the story is about. So they share it with their friends. So always read to the end. You don’t want to be mistakenly sharing content that contains obvious mistruths or half-truths. Often, you can spot misinformation once you read the article to the end.
Tip #5: Use your common sense
Finally, just use a little bit of common sense when consuming, sharing, and engaging with content. There’s so much information out there, that content creators are working overtime to get you to click on their content. As a result, they are often offering up exaggerated headlines and obvious clickbait, just to get you to click.
As a small business owner, you want your customers to trust your judgment and expertise. By sharing fake news, or obvious misinformation, you are not doing yourself any favors. Over the short-term, you might get a click or a share, but over the long-term, you might well end up seeing your customer base erode over time.
