Have you ever met someone that shared an outrageous story they found on the Internet? It must be true because it’s on the Internet right? Wrong – Just because a story, tweet, picture or video is online doesn’t necessarily mean it has been vetted, is true or accurate. It’s easy to fall victim to these lies too (They got me this weekend along with over 370,000+ others!). The list of hoaxes is long. Here are a few you may have heard:
With Hurricane Irene slamming the east coast this weekend social media was buzzing with lots of stories, pictures and videos. Most of the multimedia content delivered came from normal people like you and me from their smart phone (or at least that is how it appeared). Below is the social media hoax that fooled me:
This particular hoax started off as a tweet from Bill Gray (@1snapmusic) and came across my tweet deck as a retweet from some other unsuspecting victim. After looking at the amazing picture I immediately sent it back out to my twitter following. The next day @garrick_s informed me I was a victim of a hoax.
The moral of the story is – The Internet and social media are full of truths and lies. Consumers of content should include a little bit of skepticism when confronted with amazing stories, pictures or video. Many of us have trusted sources we rely on to provide us with good truthful content. However, honest people fall victim to hoaxes too. Hopefully, this will be the last time I get duped. . .
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