"Social Media provides fertile ground for misinformation to flouirsh and grow wildly." -- Dr. Sheryl Kennedy Haydell, LSU-Manship School of Mass Communications.
False information, photoshopped pictures, misinformation, disinformation and agenda driven propaganda masquerading as news and information make up a lot of social media. How do we fall for it?
Lisa Collins, with the Loyola University School of Communications says, "People get excited, it's very easy to share information and false information. And, if you look at where the information is coming from, you do want to check it."
Collins recommends sticking with official sources is the best to ensure you get the right information. She also cautions about pictures. Some are click-bait, photoshopped and manipulated to look exciting.
Social media platforms like twitter, Instagram, and facebook have no responsibility to be factual, or even truthful.
"Associated Press does debunk false information. Every week infact they post a story about what didn't happen this week when they take rumors and prove them wrong," Collins says. "And something that happens during a disaster is that people often share photos that are doctored."
Collins says after Hurricane Harvey a picture of a shark swimming on a flooded Houston area freeway spread all over social media. The picture was manipulated and not actual at all. Other scare tactic pictures, like one of a flooded airport, have circulated online for years and keep coming back whenever severe weather events happen.
Collins recommends checking pictures by plug them into a Google's image reverse search. It will find where the picture comes from and when the manipulated version first appeared.
Dr. Kennedy believes in the positive aspects of social media, but cautions: "While a great tool, it is also a tool that can be used to spread information that is erroneous."
To double check claims found on social media, experts recommend pages like Snopes and Politifact and other international fact checking networks that debunk rumors.