I have always had know-it-all tendencies. I'm not proud of this, but it's true. I was always the overeager student — the first one to raise her hand in class, the one who put a little too much emphasis on getting straight As.
As I've gotten older I've tried to curb my know-it-all ways. The first time I had to run a correction on a newspaper article I wrote certainly helped knock me down a few pegs, but I've also matured enough to know that no one wants to be friends with a know-it-all. I was able to bite my tongue when a friend's husband recently went on a rant about how President Obama was to "blame" for an increase in road construction (oh, how I wanted to explain the process of obtaining infrastructure funding!) and I'm trying to be less disappointed when my team doesn't take first place on our weekly bar trivia night.
However, there is one place where I'm not ashamed to let my know-it-all flag fly: Facebook.
Facebook is a cesspool of misinformation. Users blindly hit the "share" button without giving it a second thought. It's like a middle school hallway, and we are millions of pre-teen girls eager to spread the hottest rumor. It's my deeply held conviction that it is my duty as a citizen of the online community and member of society to correct and stop the spread of misinformation.
Much of the time the sharing of misinformation is done with good intentions. For example, after the death of Osama bin Laden many people posted a supposed Martin Luther King Jr. quote that encouraged us not to revel in the death of our enemies. It seemed like a fitting reminder for civility in a time of patriotic chest-thumping. Unfortunately, MLK never said those words. Another example is posts that involve safety issues (Punching in your ATM code in reverse will alert the police! Gangs are using "lost" children to lure women into rape dens!), but a quick Google search reveals them to be untrue. Other times the misinformation is spread for shadier purposes, such as trying to turn people away from a political candidate or business.
I feel so compelled to set the record straight on Facebook because social media is increasingly becoming our main source for news. Younger generations (including my own) don't read newspapers or watch the news. When the under-35 crowd wants news, we head to the Internet where we can read articles that confirm our already-established beliefs. This lack of real "news" is dangerous.
So here's what should you do before you hit the "share" button: First, ask yourself why you are sharing it. Does the article, video or photo seem too maddening/amazing/heart-warming/coincidental/unrealistic to be true? If so, do a Google search and see what else is out there on the topic. Make sure the information comes from a reputable source instead of an online forum or gossip site. Snopes.com is a great source for uncovering hoaxes and FactCheck.org is helpful in figuring out the truth behind political issues or politicians' claims. If you can't verify the information, don't share it. It's as simple as that.
It's time for all of us to become Facebook fact-checkers. Find out if what you are posting is true before you share. And if you discover misinformation on your Facebook feed, by all means be a know-it-all and set the record straight.
The post Why I Became a Facebook Know-It-All (and you should too!) appeared first on How to Get Rid of Things™.
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