We each have a responsibility to VET and KNOW if random social media shares are true.
Sharing random photos, screenshots, and stories is no different than spreading gossip No, I don’t mean those silly cat videos or the cute talking dogs on TikTok. The ‘true story’ of this guy who did that or the photo of ‘this happened somewhere and who knows if it’s true or who witnessed it but it’s viral’ traveling from person to person with no one checking its validity.
We are in a deeply polarized world of this or that. Black or white. Mask or no mask. Protesters or Rioters. Sex or Gender. Value or no value. Pink or blue.
I saw a phone screenshot of information from the CDC website earlier today.
Looked legit.
The bold link for CDC.gov right there at the top.
I’m not going to share it for two reasons:
1) I asked the original poster if it was his screenshot and to supply the link or if it was a photo he found and shared irresponsibly.
He never answered – and I asked three times. After I called out his irresponsible behavior, challenged him to think about his small business and the effects a photo of misinformation could have in his industry, he deleted his post, deleted me, and went back to his following of people who think just like him because why bother growing…
I’ll share this because it’s important to pause and reflect. This gentleman owns a financial advising business. After I proved to him the photo he shared was not only misleading without links to the missing information implied in the photo, he came back to me with math.
Look, I’m not going to argue with a finance guy when it comes to math.
Who would? I’m a writer… not me.
Except, while he tried to prove his point, that had nothing to do with a misleading photo, using his math skills, he forgot to multiply his percent number by 100, so even his argument was off by two decimal points.
And this guy is no longer our financial advisor. I hope he’s not yours either.
2) I see no need in sharing a viral photo with misleading misinformation. I do have screenshots of everything, so if I have to share, I will happily block his name and post the whole sordid affair. — Ewww – that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Basically, this photo started with two headlines:
What do your results mean?
And
If you test positive:
The text below the headlines stated that a positive result from a test shows antibodies (I know, I’m getting there – this is the keyword for those of you who are paying attention) from an infection with a virus from the same family of viruses (called coronaviruses), such as the one that causes the common cold.
I’m certain this photo circulating either by Mr. Two Decimal Points Too Far Right or found and shared by him with shock and awe was meant to make people think if they get a COVID-19 test and it’s positive, they are potentially only testing positive for a common cold.
Sneaky. Sneaky.
Either way, it’s important to know the information that is hidden from the screenshot.
I’ll share the link (because vetting is socially responsible) to share all the information missing from the screenshot including the Headline of:
TEST FOR PAST INFECTION (ANTIBODY)
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/serology-overview.html
This question regarding a positive result is about the ANTIBODY test, NOT about a positive for the virus causing COVID-19 test.
The viral test, as it’s called, actually states: “Viral tests check samples from your respiratory system, such as a swab from the inside of your nose, to tell you if you currently have an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Some tests are point-of-care tests, meaning results might be available at the testing site in less than an hour. Other tests must be sent to a laboratory to analyze, a process that takes 1–2 days once received by the lab.”
(link shared justs below. Source CDC)
Here’s that link too – because vetting is socially responsible.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/diagnostic-testing.html
There is even information much like the question in the viral misleading photo:
What if the test is positive?
The CDC provides a link about caring for yourself or someone else sick with COVID-19. Nowhere does this page mention the common cold or other coronaviruses that are not SARS-CoV-2.
This photo was specifically shared with misleading information to get people to believe positive COVID-19 tests are showing mere common colds.
This is a time of advertisers boycotting Facebook for not paying closer attention to misinformation and not monitoring racist content.
IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY to share without omission. If there is an interesting post clearly written by a social media user and not a link to a reputable site, it is merely the digital telephone game or gossip running quickly around a world-wide campus.
This is important to address: Now, look – I know we all disagree on reputable sites, but a link has all sorts of possibilities to further research whereas a photo or a post written by someone without links is just dead opinion or gossip made fluid by sharing with the possibility of additional opinions or more oh-em-gee gossip tagging along for the ride.
It is absolutely irresponsible to share random photos, screenshots, and information wrapped up as fact and not opinion or satire without vetting.
Period.
If we can find a reliable link (or any link people can view to see the true source), we show just how open to dialogue we are.
If we share random posts, rants by others, and photos that have not been vetted, we are essentially no worse than the kid telling everyone in class that Sally has the cooties.
Congratulations, we’ve made it to level seven, 2nd grade. Maybe we can level up to responsible adulthood soon.
Here’s some unsolicited advice – carry on if you don’t like advice you didn’t ask to receive. It’s here, but I can’t make you read it.
If you have customers and clients on Facebook or other social media sites, please ask yourself if someone shared misinformation about your business or your expertise, how would you feel, or how could that false information potentially affect your business or industry?
How much time would it take you to educate people on just how wrong their now-viral information is?
In the financial world, how bad would it be if false information went viral quickly and dropped the market? Wouldn’t it be important to find the facts behind the viral information before reacting or advising clients? Might also want to move that decimal point over too.
This isn’t a debate. This doesn’t fall under this or that. This screenshot was highlighted in yellow and circled in red to get people to think their Viral Test will prove they may only have a common cold.
The fact is that’s not how this test works, but antibodies helping our immune systems could possibly show the same coronavirus that causes the common cold or those antibodies could be from carrying (possibly asymptomatically) COVID-19.
I’ve seen it a lot lately. Too much. Misinformation. Viral sharing. Misleading. False. Irresponsibility.
Just in the past two weeks, from General Mills (who never owned Quaker Oats) stealing Nancy Green’s recipe (TRUTH: the recipe was created by two men who then hired Nancy Green to model for their new Aunt Jemima brand of pancake mix) to a photo of a woman stating George Floyd assaulted and robbed at gunpoint a pregnant woman (who was not pregnant) about thirteen years ago.
Now that I’ve said it, let me clear that up too – It appears he was a part of a robbery with several (I want to say 4-5 men) in a home where two women were inside with a toddler. The viral photo was neither of those women, and there are no court or police records of either woman being pregnant at the time.
A large man came onto the scene from a vehicle after the previous men broke into the home (Floyd being the largest in the group, the assumption is the large man was Floyd) and held a gun to a woman’s stomach.
It should also be noted, these men were scouring the house for drugs. George Floyd had been arrested a few times before for cocaine possession.
In all the misinformation I’ve seen, I’ve not once seen anything about why these two ‘upstanding’ women and a toddler were in a home with drugs.
Only a viral, misleading and false message to take away from the sympathy our country feels for the loss of George Floyd. And truly, I’d ask anyone who thinks any of this is about one man, one George Floyd, to step back and pay attention to the ignition of a fire and then the spread.
Actively pay attention.
It’s also important in getting correct information out into the world, to note Floyd was convicted and served time for this crime and was released in 2013.
Another rather important FACT to consider is that none of this story in factuality or falsehood had anything to do with why the Minneapolis police were called that fateful May 2020 afternoon. That call was over a suspected counterfeit $20 bill.
Also, not a death on the spot worthy crime.
These are just two examples of complete social irresponsibility. Come on, adults. We can do better.
Be shocked.
Be outraged.
But for the love of all that is still good in this world, please stop randomly sharing information and do a little research to see what is correct and what is not accurate.
Consider it civil duty.
We owe it to one another not to spread gossip and false information. We live in a world of information at our fingertips.
Use it.
Use it with enough tenacity to get it right.
#vetbeforesharing
Be well
~Stella