You may have seen your friends or family members sharing an outdated article on Facebook. This will happen a lot less now as the social media giant is rolling out a new feature that will warn users about sharing articles older than 90 days. On Thursday, Facebook introduced a new notification screen that will inform if you try to share content that is more than three months old.
Now, when you will tap the share button on an old article, the popup will appear warning you that this content is may be outdated. However, it is not yet clear whether this feature operates with simply copying and then pasting a specific link. The new feature aims to help people have the necessary context they need to make informed decisions about what they should share on Facebook. According to the company, old articles shared out of their original context play a role in spreading misleading information across Facebook’s platform.
When the notification will appear, you will see two options- Continue and the ‘Go Back’ option. If you will tap on the ‘Continue’ button, the content will be shared on your timeline. Sometimes, an old article is relevant, and the continue button will allow you to share that news.
According to John Hegeman, VP Feed and Stories, the timeliness of the content is a crucial piece of context that helps you to decide what you should read, trust, share on social media. Publishers have also been concerned over old articles misconstruing the ongoing events. Some publishers have even started to add labels on older articles just to make the context clear.
The company is also planning to introduce other sorts of labels like providing additional context on content related to the coronavirus pandemic. Facebook will also include background on the source link and a link to Facebook’s COVID-19 Information Center. This will help the platform to provide more reliable and authentic health information to its users.
Recently, Twitter also tested a new feature that would warn users before they share articles that they have not actually read. The feature essentially asks users if they would like to read the article before they retweet it. Along with the new update Facebook announced today, it is nice to see that major social media platforms are making efforts to combat disinformation across their respective platforms- particularly, as the United States Presidential Election rapidly approaches.
Read next: Revolts and Boycotts of Facebook advertisers as there has been a noticeable trust deficit
Now, when you will tap the share button on an old article, the popup will appear warning you that this content is may be outdated. However, it is not yet clear whether this feature operates with simply copying and then pasting a specific link. The new feature aims to help people have the necessary context they need to make informed decisions about what they should share on Facebook. According to the company, old articles shared out of their original context play a role in spreading misleading information across Facebook’s platform.
When the notification will appear, you will see two options- Continue and the ‘Go Back’ option. If you will tap on the ‘Continue’ button, the content will be shared on your timeline. Sometimes, an old article is relevant, and the continue button will allow you to share that news.
According to John Hegeman, VP Feed and Stories, the timeliness of the content is a crucial piece of context that helps you to decide what you should read, trust, share on social media. Publishers have also been concerned over old articles misconstruing the ongoing events. Some publishers have even started to add labels on older articles just to make the context clear.
The company is also planning to introduce other sorts of labels like providing additional context on content related to the coronavirus pandemic. Facebook will also include background on the source link and a link to Facebook’s COVID-19 Information Center. This will help the platform to provide more reliable and authentic health information to its users.
Recently, Twitter also tested a new feature that would warn users before they share articles that they have not actually read. The feature essentially asks users if they would like to read the article before they retweet it. Along with the new update Facebook announced today, it is nice to see that major social media platforms are making efforts to combat disinformation across their respective platforms- particularly, as the United States Presidential Election rapidly approaches.
Read next: Revolts and Boycotts of Facebook advertisers as there has been a noticeable trust deficit
