Social media and fake news
When we talk of social media, the default is always Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is, by far, the biggest, having already more than 1.8 billion users, and soon to be two billion, I think.
If it were a country, it would be the world’s most populated. That’s also one of every four living persons on Earth.
Twitter continues to chug along, and there is newfound interest in it since it has somehow become the de facto sounding board of US President Donald Trump. However, its membership has remained at around 320 million.
There is, however, another site that is hitting 500 million members in over 200 countries. Known more as a place for business and human resource recruitment, LinkedIn is a place where you see 10 million jobs posted, nine million company profiles, and 100,000 articles per week.
It was bought by Microsoft for $26 billion last year, and while I think most of us are not yet members, and if so, probably go in there only once or twice a month, it has been steadily growing.
On the other hand, fake news continues to haunt the web.
Last week, I even saw a very credible-looking post that said Filipinos can now visit Canada visa-free. It looked so legitimate and when posted by well meaning friends, and shared thousands of times, you’d really think it was true.
Of course, the best way to check is to Google the information and see if legitimate news sites also carry similar news. For instance, if you see the news that so and so died, you should check that out before sharing.
The site that carries the most authority, and mostly viewed as authentic is Wikipedia, which although can be edited by almost anybody, seems to be policed enough that it is seen by many as accurate and legitimate as encyclopedias, moderated and written by experts. Wikipedia was founded by Jimmy Wales, and he is launching something that will battle fake news stories online.
It’s called WikiTribune, an open collaboration featuring various journalists and contributors who fact-check stories. The organizers have started crowdfunding, and reportedly have raised enough money to hire at least five journalists.
Facebook has been criticized because, as the biggest platform, they are often the place where people spread false news. Just this month, they launched the News Integrity Initiative. Funded with $14 million from Facebook, it will create tools that will help people identify the authenticity of stories they read online.
Last week, I even saw very a credible-looking post that said Filipinos can now visit Canada visa-free. It looked so legitimate and when posted by well-meaning friends, and shared thousands of times, you’d really think it was true.