What is with all the fake newsposts on facebook?

[Kerath]

Hahaha! That's great! I think one of the best I saw was a claim that Apple had released a new app to make an iPhone waterproof. Presumably a lot of people fell for it and broke their devices by submerging them in water to test it out.

oh gawd, that's classic. I'm sure there were at least a few irate phone calls made about that one. Using their house phone of course

[Tyrgannus]

Clickbait brings revenue. Sad but true. I hate how it floods my feed too.

[Howard Moon]

Clicks = money, and a sensationalist headline (who cares if it's fake!) brings more clicks.

[Juliana]

Hahaha! That's great! I think one of the best I saw was a claim that Apple had released a new app to make an iPhone waterproof. Presumably a lot of people fell for it and broke their devices by submerging them in water to test it out.

Yeah, that is the worst problem with those "stories" are the idiots who repost and share them without even checking their validity. Some stupid stuff makes it around lightning quick that way....ugh!

[OneSent]

Everywhere you look there's someone trying to sell you fear like it's going out of style. Facebook gets a ton a traffic, so what better place to advertise your "product"?

The best thing your gf can do is to literally ignore anything "news" related and just become oblivious to it all. Otherwise, she'll end up fretting about a whole bunch of stuff that is untrue.

And besides, your girlfriend shouldn't be discourage from eating at Mrs. Lovett's bakery. I've never had an issue with their meatpies before. Facebook should be ashamed for spreading such rumors about the meat!

[3DTyrant]

It's even funnier when you link them proof that a story isn't real and they still go out of their way to defend it.

Abit like my sister-in-law, her mother and spiders, she said something about another species of spiders coming into the UK, ones that normally don't even attack humans (unless the attack is provoked), and she still freaked out.

OT: People sadly fall for this crap, it's a good way to get people who can't be arsed to look into it freaked out.

[prwraith]

Only an idiot believes anything on facebook. Sure real articles get posted but instead of wading through the filth of humanity you're better off going to a reputable news site.

[Deleted]

This kind of thing was why I thought Robin Williams' suicide was actually a hoax until I checked the BBC website.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

This kind of thing was why I thought Robin Williams' suicide was actually a hoax until I checked the BBC website.

Same here, I didn't believe it was true until I'd read it on Reuters and the BBC website. Of course, that may have been a certain amount of not wanting it to be true.

[Graeham]

On a semi-related note is anyone else really frustrated by those 'you won't BELIEVE what happened next' posts that get shared with no context? I haven't bothered clicking on them but I'll admit there's an element of temptation...

[Annoying]

I love them. Great ways to filter out the dumb from my friends list.

On a semi-related note is anyone else really frustrated by those 'you won't BELIEVE what happened next' posts that get shared with no context? I haven't bothered clicking on them but I'll admit there's an element of temptation...

Those are called "Clickbait" titles. Generally they're used to get people to visit a blog/website without knowing what they're going to read, meaning that they'll get a bunch of traffic from people who don't even care in addition to the traffic from those who do care.

[imabanana]

Those are called "Clickbait" titles. Generally they're used to get people to visit a blog/website without knowing what they're going to read, meaning that they'll get a bunch of traffic from people who don't even care in addition to the traffic from those who do care.

I always read these as "our content is so bad we won't even tell you what it is, but still try to lure you into thinking it's interesting"