One for the likes
On social media, the falsehoods that go viral tend to have clickbait headlines. These sensational fake news stories elicit strong emotional reactions by appearing to expose a moral outrage or relate a heart-warming incident.
Even without basis in fact, such posts are readily shared by users because of the positive social reinforcement users get, in the form of extra “likes” or higher engagement.
Though spread without the intent to deceive, misinformation takes on the veneer of truth when shared by a trusted contact.
An experiment by the Media Insight Project found that readers were more likely to deem an article factually accurate and recommend it if it was shared by a trusted person. It showed that people paid more attention to who shared the news than who wrote it.
