Hey friends, fake news and propaganda have become major soapboxes of mine these past couple of years, so I thought it might be helpful to go over a handy social media best practice. Sometimes a sensational story or picture or meme comes along, and your first thought is, “Everyone should see this!” Resist that urge. Growing up, many of us were told to “count to ten” before saying or doing something we might regret; maybe we can build a similar mantra for social media. In this case, I’m going to ask you to “take a minute” because that’s usually all the time it takes to make sure a story is legitimate. How should you spend that minute? I’m glad you asked…

Step 1: Consider the source.
(estimated time: <10 seconds)
Did you first hear about this story from that one friend? You know the friend I mean: the one who’s always posting one-sided political hit pieces and conspiracy theories? If so, don’t hit “share.” Did the story come from a notoriously partisan news source or facebook group? Is it intended as satire like The Onion or Info Wars? (Yes, I know, but please let me pretend.) Lastly, is the news source even real, or does it just have an official sounding name like “The Denver Guardian“? If the source seems questionable at first glance, ignore the post and continue on with your day.

Step 2: Investigate the source a little more closely.
(estimated time: ~20 seconds)
If it comes from a specific facebook page, head over to that profile and scan over the first ten or twelve headlines. If you’re on twitter, do the same thing, but pay special attention to who else follows this profile and who the profile is retweeting. Remember all those times the president got in hot water for retweeting hate groups? This 20-second practice will help you avoid that trap.

Step 3: Google it.
(estimated time: ~30 seconds)
We’re almost there. Just type the headline or subject matter into Google to see who else is reporting on it. Remember that your Google results are tailored to your personal search history (curse you, algorithm), so you may still get some false positives from a simple google search. If the first page of articles all affirm the story but don’t feature any major news outlets (Washington Post, BBC, etc.), try throwing in the word “hoax” or “snopes” on the search bar to see what else comes up. Of course, this brings up a related pro tip: if the story you’re thinking about sharing openly tells you the rest of the media can’t be trusted, it’s probably unreliable. “We’re the only ones you can trust” is a classic propaganda technique.

Did your story or meme or whatever pass all three tests?
You’re probably safe to post at this point, but maybe during your 60 seconds of research, you’ve made another discovery: sharing this story isn’t worth the arguments it will bring. If you’re going to put stuff out there on social media, you must be prepared to discuss and defend it, and about 95% of the time, I decide it’s not worth my time. The whole purpose of the classic “count to ten” technique is to defuse anger, and it turns out the “take a minute” strategy has a similar effect. One minute is far less time than the hours you might spend arguing, so before you hit the “share” or “retweet” button, take a minute. It will be well worth your time.