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I have to hand it to some of you. When you "spot" a post and respond or share it, it's amazing how little of the post you actually read sometimes. Then the rest of us fall into that hole!!!
I get the enthusiasm involved in the actions I see out there, but to be honest, a few more seconds would save everyone a lot more time. Let me expound on this for a moment.
One of my favorite blunders is when an email is sent to a group and in that email, it reads, "This event, on This date." And then you see replies asking when the event will be. Seriously?
Or on Facebook a user puts out a post asking for something but insists that anyone who can do this to PM them. Twenty comments later, I'm just having a tizzy screaming, READ THE REQUEST you idjits!!!
Speaking of Facebook...
The other day someone in a group I am a part of said they found a (?) in the (store) parking lot this morning. And invariably, you get questions asking where they found it or when? Yep. R.E.A.D. the entire post my fellow surfing social media surfers!
Another favorite is when people see a headline and share the post... without ever reading it. Blunder!!! I've watched folks get called out because they misconstrued yet another traffic snatching web headline and splattered out there for all to see. And then they get razzed for what they shared.
It seems quite a few folks don't read past a headline sometimes. I am a bit surprised by this.
Here's my most fervent wish (In SNOPES We Trust):
Another perspective is when folks share things via Facebook, email or what not, when it looks like it could be very important. So they reshare or post it immediately. Like, VERY IMMEDIATELY!
To be honest, I'd say many of these shares are about bogus information.
I know it might feel like a burden, but one should verify what they're sharing before the blunder into embarrassing themselves.I've seen too many pieces where someone says a TV show now has twice as many episodes or that a business is closing or there's a fraud going around and you better act now!!! (Just to name a few)
With the TV show or business closing news, if there is only one site or source saying this, be suspicious. They're probably wrong. Or look at the source site. If it's not CNN or some major player, you should verify.
And sometimes people start passing around a scam or computer warning to everyone, then half of everyone reshares it, etc., etc... and suddenly you have a five-year-old internet warning (or hoax) spreading like wildfire. Again.
To be honest, most things I consider resharing to warn people, I filter through SNOPES first, to make sure I'm not being silly. I once shared something that got my attention and "scared" me. About 15 or so years ago, and I was highly embarrassed later about it when people I respected called me out on it.
I'm still embarrassed to this day.
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I'm not blaming anyone for anything, I'm just saying, it's always good to keep your friends in then know, but make sure you're passing them good info.
When you see something that inspires you to comment or share with your friends that you care about, here's your chance to play detective reporter instead of acting like a Fox News Reporter.
Read the entire post/article. Make sure it's what you think it is. Or that it answers the questions that come to mind. Look over the warning and hit up Snopes.com and see if they have anything about it. most of the time they do.
If they don't do a quick web search for the issue to see if anyone else is reporing it. If so, good! If not, then again, you've saved time and face.
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