•••
• •
F UT UR E F O CUS • •
age what appears there. In the top
right hand corner of the post you
will see a drop down arrow
V. Click on it and see a list:
Save link, Hide post, Unfollow,
Report this post and Turn on/off
notifications for this post.
• If you wish to refer to the post
later, click ‘save link’ and you
will find it remains under saved
links in the sidebar.
• To delete a post from your
wall, ‘Hide post’.
Laura McClure:
• Who is the author? - Always
look for a journalist’s byline.
Learn more about their jour-
nalism and whether they built
their reputation on reporting
the truth.
• What are the claims? - Real
news will include multiple pri-
mary sources when discussing a
controversial claim. Fake news
sites use fake sources. When in
doubt, dig deeper. Facts can be
verified.
• When was it published? -
Look at the publication date.
If it’s breaking news, be extra
careful.
• Where was it published?
- Real news is published by
trustworthy media outlets with
a strong fact checking record.
• How does it make you feel?
- Fake news or propaganda
is designed to awaken strong
emotions. If you feel super
angry, pause and take a breath.
Then check on other news sites
to decide if it is real or fake.
Don’t believe everything you
read. There is no substitute for
critical thinking.
BE AWARE: YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
PRESENCE INFLUENCES PEOPLE
Your reputation on-line
When we interviewed potential
new tenants for a townhouse, it
was a simple matter of typing
a name into Facebook’s search
bar to get an idea of the tenant’s
suitability - or not! Naturally the
chap who had uploaded photo
after photo of himself out party-
ing wildly… well he was quickly
crossed off the list!
Do you know a jobseeker?
In the same vein nowadays when a
company is looking to hire a new
employee, they do their research.
This means they are likely to take
a sneak-peek into social media
accounts. They can form a pretty
good impression of an applicant
beyond the tidy CV - and they are
totally within the law doing so.
So if you know of anyone looking
for a job, I recommend you advise
them to do some social media
auditing to tidy up their online
image!
FACEBOOK TIPS
If you find undesirable ‘stuff ’ on
your facebook page, you don’t
have to feel helpless. You can man-
• If you are interested in a thread
of conversation, click ‘Turn on
notifications for this post’ and
that conversation will appear
on news.
• If a post is offensive it is
worthwhile reporting it - the
Facebook administrators do
respond.
DON’T BE DUPED: CRITICAL
THINKING SKILLS
Roxanne Bailey lecturer at
NWU, says critical thinking is an
important life skill. It must be an
objective of education since we
live in an era where individuals are
confronted daily by a magnitude
of information and we need to
distinguish between truths and
untruths. We all have a respon-
sibility to hone our higher-order
thinking skills. This is a challenge
but it is not an impossible task,
particularly if we choose to guard
our minds against misinformation.
Just as information is available at
the touch of a finger, so too is a
double check. Finally consider dis-
cussing this issue with your chil-
dren. They will have even more
to do with online ‘news’ than you
and need to learn to always check
the credibility of what they read
and learn online!
SENWES Scenario • AUG/SEP 2017
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