A couple of weeks ago I brought up the story of the Michigan cougar, and a trail cam photograph of said beastie taken in June of this year.
As it turns out, it didn’t take long before the trail cam photograph of the Michigan cougar begin making its way around the world’s most popular social networking site, Facebook, as evidence of cougars in Upstate New York. Mike Lynch of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise chronicled the meme earlier this month, based on a supposedly “true” report that became attached to the photo. The story had been shared over 2,000 times before Lynch discovered it. It’s still up to this day, despite many people in the comments section calling it out as a hoax.
Facebook seems to be the number one purveyor of false truths and non-skeptical thinking nowadays, a role it has inherited from mass-forwarded e-mails. I don’t know when the last time was that I got an e-mail with a dubious Obama story or FEMA death camps theory in it; but I sure as heck see such nonsense in my Facebook feed on a daily basis. Just in the last week or so, a number of my Facebook friends were getting worked up about Facebook Privacy Notices, a fake rumor that had originally appeared in the summer. Or, have you seen all the misattributed photos that went around during Hurricane Sandy? I did, over and over in my Facebook feed.
I know that in my own social media use, I’ve learned to be perpetually skeptical about any “news” item that isn’t posted by a news source that I trust and follow. I’ve been sure to keep websites like Snopes and Facecrooks close at hand whenever I see something suspicious. I’ve begun to treat the Share button with as much trepidation as I would once treat my e-mail’s Forward function.
And most importantly, I’ve begun speaking up when a Facebook friend posts something specious. I keep my tone polite and my links minimal, but I’m not going to ignore bad information just because these people are my friends. It’s because I’m their friend that I’m willing to speak up and stop them from spreading nonsense. I know I can’t stop such misinformation from spreading through the rest of Facebook, but at least I can keep my own circle of friends honest.
I agree 100%, I find myself becoming the wet blanket on my facebook friends posts. I will freely admit that facebook got me on that privacy warning. I usually am pretty diligent about these posts. But i put it up for about 15 min and then tracked down the hoax.
Then I had to post this..
” D’oh that is what the skeptic gets for not checking first. This is a hoax spam post. Facebook’s Response “As outlined in our terms, the people who use Facebook own all of the content and information they post on Facebook, and they can control how it is shared through their privacy and application settings,” Andrew Noyes, a Facebook spokesman, wrote in an email. “Under our terms, you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings.”
If I am getting fooled I hate to think what i happening to the gullible.
Great Post.
As soon as I see any post like that I paste the text into a search engine. In this case the “Berner” [sic] reference was an immediate red flag.
YouTube is another major vector for false information. Just find a topical event and republish someone else’s content with a different label and you’re on your way to earning advertising revenue.
I didn’t see the hoax image, but I have told many people about the photo in the past weeks. Here in Waterford, MI, not too far from Dearborn, where the author is from, the northern part of the state is often just considered to be woods. We have heard stories of cougars, but evidence sure s nice.
This is true. In Michigan, there are two distinct sections: Civilization and The Woods North Of Lansing.
After a few years of facebook skepticism I too was harrassed by the Facebook staff fun and games.
Facebook isnt the place to confront people in the same manner their fooery confronts you. The fact that you may point out idiocies many times a day only wastes your time. My earlier facebook account was suspended because i used presentations rather than comments to convey skepticism to facebook people who were after all, young college and Uni students.
I suppose a graphic presentation of diseases spread around civilisations as they marched on may have offended some.
How the hell was I to know that someone was sensitive and reported me?
Facebook is definitely off this man’s menu and I have far more time to read appropriate material. Strangely, my son has come to the same conclusion and resigned as well.
Sadly the attitude most people on Facebook take is this “It’s Facebook, and there is no room for correct spelling, documentation, political/religious/or simply factual information.” Because when you’re connected world wide, there’s definitely no reason to know what you’re talking about when you post.
And it won’t ever change either, because people are content with how it is. Even further, they get enraged or bitter when you try to help inform them. Being from the south, its bad enough because we already have the stigma of ignorance placed on us. But with one quick tap of the post button, the cliche is reaffirmed.