The term "fake news" has become so much a part of our conversation that there are now more and more studies being done about it to answer questions about it.
What does it mean exactly? Where does it come from?And how is it spread? And who spreads it?
Those last two questions were the focus of a new study that found that fake news is spread far more on Facebook than other social media platforms. And that those who spread it are very different but very alike.
The study is out of the University of Boulder Colorado and they asked hundreds of social media users if they would share their posts during a two year period. And they did. The study found that Facebook is “the central conduit for the transfer of fake news”.
Not surprisingly, the researchers found that the vast majority of misleading posts come from accounts on the extreme ends of the political spectrum. And the study found that fake news comes from both those ends.
Those who describe themselves as super conservative account for about 26% of the fake news on Facebook while those who classify themselves as very liberal also share almost 20 % of misleading articles on Facebook.
The study didn’t answer how you to know if something is fake news or real news, but as the lead researcher put it, “...with the proliferation of social media and with traditional news organizations under financial distress, there is a sea of change occurring in the way that information flows through society.”
But then, when it comes to fake news, forewarned is forearmed.
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