Look up one of your recent articles and check the checklist below. Is there an area where you could improve? If you answer yes for these questions then you might need to improve on your article or reconsider it.

• Is it sensationalistic?
• Has your audience seen this piece of information already?
• Are there negative consequences of you sharing it?
• Did this information have a large amount of engagement before you addressed it?
• Was the engagement surrounding the content negative?
• Were the motivations for people sharing the content negative or malicious?
• Was the content shared by bots?
• Are people profiting (financial, ideological or political) if you share it?

 

Bear in mind that timing is also important, if a piece of false information already received a lot of engagement, it may have already spiraled out of control. It is also important to understand that you are not being manipulated by disinformation strategies such as the use of clickbait-y headlines to generate more engagement, the use of hyperboles and sensationalistic language, or that bots are being used to push content.