The future of Facebook and Fake News

Cristian Level X³

3

January 8, 2018, 5:37 pm

18

The future of Facebook and Fake News

For a few years now Facebook has a huge problem: disinformation. It all culminated with the Trump presidency I guess, fake news on Facebook reached new heights.

I'm not a Facebook fan. I have never been. I mostly use the Facebook Messanger to chat and keep in touch with the people I don't already have on WhatsApp. Otherwise, I rarely post (maybe once a year) and I rarely browser around.
Giving the fact that I work as an online marketer, I somehow feel obligated to have a Facebook account and use it once in a while.

I was recently browsing my Facebook feed, and I've noticed something strange, a lot of my friends and connections were sharing and commenting on fake news. And when I'm saying fake news I'm not referring to the "left" point of view or the "right" point of view or general arguments, no. I'm referring to straight out parody and pamphlet based websites that virtually have a disclaimer explaining how their content is fiction.

How is this possible? Is everyone this stupid or just my friends and connections?
I think not. Because I've looked at other profiles (friends of my friends) and I've found similar results. Spend a few hours today doing just that, going through people profiles and looking at what they are sharing/commenting on. A lot of them shared fake news and fake stories and got all worked out about things that weren't real.

I guess some people just don't research anything on their own and believe everything they find on Facebook. And because Facebook wants to keep you happy it will play along providing your with more similar content to enforce your ideas and believe everything you are reading is real.

All of this despite numerous claims and features coming from Facebook to combat fake news, by flagging and disputing content. So I guess they didn't found a way to fix this.

So what is the future of Facebook?

The way I see it, the future of Facebook is fake news. Eventually, people won't be able to tell anymore, not even the clever ones, leading to the inevitable abandon of the platform.
It already started to change. Facebook is not really a place for young people being themselves anymore. Facebook transformed into a public forum where everyone portrays a fake image of themselves while spreading fake news.

Millenials started migrating to Instagram and Generation Z is using Snapchat or something else.
I think people want simplicity and freedom. This is why Instagram's popularity is still growing; this is why more and more people are spending more time on Instagram and give far less attention to Facebook. It's comfy, simple to use and doesn't seem very "public" just yet.
But Instagram walks a very fine line in my opinion. It already started to implement more and more features; I hope they realize that one of the biggest mistakes of Facebook was bloating the platform with tons of useless settings and features.

2018 will be pretty decisive for Facebook and the other big social networks. Twitter seems to have survived and I can even say it thrives, it is simple to use and in essence remains a fast and effective way of delivering content/news from trusted sources.

What do you think about Facebook and all that misinformation floating over there? Have you noticed the same trend I did or do you have a smart circle of friends and are somehow isolated from all this madness? 

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AmieBotella

Tons of fake news all over Facebook now more than ever. I started using Facebook in 2009 and my, it has evolved heavily. I've seen how many times Rowan Atkinson died on Facebook posts, or Jackie Chan and Michael Jackson being alive or that aliens caught on camera and the strange noises. These are just some of the top fake news over the years. Urban legends has evolved. They're fast moving now because of social media. Politics are also a best seller of fake news. Big media companies claim truth but more often than not, they're also sources of manipulated news. I always think that a 50% truth is a 100% lie. You cannot compromise truth, but this is where we're all heading and even though Facebook is a main channel of fake news, I don't see it losing its seat on the top social media networks. Majority of people are just so gullible to believe the things they will see at once and conveniently share them immediately. Twitter shares the blame on spreading lies too, same with Instagram and other social media outlets, it just so happens that Facebook has it all. Videos, articles, photos, and people. Facebook (and others) may not be directly responsible for the fast spreading of fake news but I don't think they're innocent too. But this, for me, is mostly because of people not really paying enough attention to what they're reading or sharing. I't s usually mindless sharing and the attention grabber titles will be enough for most to share it immediately. No matter how bad things turn out for fake news, this is where we're all leading unfortunately.

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Corzhens

This may be good news for you that Facebook is now checking on the posts for a probably fake news that they will delete and the account may be suspended. I have read that news although it was not clear if Facebook is already implementing that new policyh but it was clear as daylight that Facebook will be strict when it comes to fake news especially when the fake news involves the government or a political personality.

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vhinz

I think not only facebook contains fake news. There are lots of websites that published fake news and uses Facebook to attract readers to click on their article and redirect to their website. Every day I could see fake news being shared by other people. The creator of websites that publishes fake news knows that when they post a link to Facebook, many users will be attracted to view the news and share it with others. Sadly lots of Facebook users tend to share everything they saw in their timeline without thinking the credibility of the source. More than three years ago now since I stopped reading the news because mostly it contains garbage and it just gives stress. I only read articles online that could expand my knowledge in the area that I am interested.

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jaymish2

I agree @Vhinz. It is unfair to single out Facebook as the source of fake, news. I think this is because of how it was used in the Trump campaign. Facebook is not the moral police. It can't monitor the internet and verify stories.Fake news is a reflection of our society. It is a reflection of just how shallow and lazy we have become. The media has now resulted to sensational stories as a way to get readers. No one cares anymore how true a story is. There is fake news everywhere.That's why gossip magazines like Ok and the National Enquirer exist and are very profitable. Unfortunately scandal sells.

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mildredtabitha

I frequently use Twitter and read need from there while checking trending hashtags. I rarely use Facebook but I log in once in a while to like my friend's photos. I haven't noticed the fake news but I am sure it is there. I think if the trend for fake news continues, many will be fooled.

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Baburra

I might just not be using Facebook as much but I think this is more a problem with popular sites in general since it's also present in Youtube and Twitter. I think it's ultimately up to the consumer to sift through the content since it's the path and nature of something that is free to use for everyone. Most people just want to hear what they would agree with anyway so that's what they seek out and they call anything they don't agree with to be fake. The best way is to find an objective source and to not be biased yourself.

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overcast

I seriously think that news sites like VICE, BuzzFeed, and few others need to stop. Because we have learned that some of the time such news are going to cause a lot of issues. And people need to be really understanding of that part. Not all the people and their content can be good and often political parties manipulate on that sense. I'd say it can be hard in that sense if you can properly pull it on.

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kgord

Undoubtedly there is "fake news" out there, but that should not be used as a rallying cry of the right. I think sticking to legitimate news sources instead of getting our news from Facebook or other strange news sources, the least likely we will be subject to getting faked out on the news.

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Corzhens

I am greatly annoyed by the fake news. From time to time, I would see on my timeline posts about the death of Justin Biber or any other celebrities, foreign and local. There are also the new inventions that are not true. Truly, social media is being used to spread fake news and I wonder why so many have the propensity to share something that they haven’t confirmed. I’ve read that Facebook is doing something about the fake news and sooner or later posters of fake news will have to face sanctions. That would probably curtail the prevalence of those annoying fake news.

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vinaya

Those who create fake news and share on facebook are trying to trick people to visit their website and earn views. The facebook users who share fake news are doing this in ignorance or purposely because they want to trick their friends or are with fake news creator.
Once my sister shared a news which was fake. She had done this without knowing that it was fake. When I said it was fake, she took it down. I think many people are similar to my sister who clutter the feed with fake news.

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Tronia

I have also seen quite a lot of fake news over the last few months. If I compare it to the beginnings of Facebook it's definitely on the increase... a few years back there were hardly any. Also, I tried and reported some of the news that I saw but Facebook literally did nothing. They didn't remove it but instead told me to contact the user myself and ask him/her to do so?? Which means that if they don't want to, they don't have to.

I truly hope that Facebook takes it more seriously.

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DarthHazard

It's incredible how some people can fall for certain news articles that are clearly fake news which I guess is not a good indication for the world. The fact that so many Americans fell for a lot of fake news that was spread across social media was a real worry. I'm glad that this issue has become much more of a priority and hopefully sites like Facebook and Twitter can do much better to get rid of fake news quickly.

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backpage4u

There are lots of fake news are shared by people in everywhere, like social networking sites facebook, google+, youtube etc ..
Most of people are sharing these own thoughts into fake news to fall people. so we have to first match the news in different places is it correct or not. then we can understand what is true & falls.

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Kakashi2020

I think Facebook now does generate a lot of fake news but everything is evolving and eventually considering the numbers of loyal Facebookers all over the world who knows it may evolve to something much much bigger.

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mitan143

In my opinion, fake news revolving in facebook isn't facebook's fault because we have all the right to post anything we want to say, of course except for those posts that are very harmful and inappropriate to all facebook users. Getting the right information in facebook is always on our own hands to verify if it is true or not. We should know how to accept news as true from false. And I believe facebook is a great tool in expressing one's thought regarding the issue or whatsoever. Sometimes, I rather believe on some political news blogs in facebook than news report in television or news update from tv network page in facebook.

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jeffreyjose48

This is a sad thing that Facebook is experiencing today. Fake news needs to be eradicated. If not, one should use wisdom and discernment in order to know what is fake and true news.

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jpk0007

Fake news is becoming rampant on all social media platforms including Facebook. today the phenomenon of fake news has also become prevalent in the mainstream media. Many editors and journalists are engaging in corrupt practices and promoting fake news. it can be even called as paid news instead of fake news. Fake news across social media platforms can also be misused to spread rumors in the societies and create social unrest. It is high time for all sort of media organizations to bring in self-regulation or the governments all over the world should step in and take action in this regard

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Caguioa747

Eventually something will come along and replace facebook. Probably not going to happen anytime soon ... but almost nothing lasts forever, and the online world seems even more ephemeral than that. Someday we'll see Facebook get eclipsed by the next "New, Great, Wonderful Thing."

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