Facebook is prompting some users to read articles before sharing them

[midian182]

Why it matters: Most of us have seen an article shared by a Facebook friend and wondered, "Did they even read this?". But the social network is testing a feature borrowed from Twitter that could aid in the battle against misinformation by notifying users who try to share articles they haven't even opened.

A percentage of Facebook's 2.6 billion monthly active users are guilty of sharing articles based on the headlines alone, often alongside an unrelated comment. The service hopes to dissuade this practice using a pop-up that states, "You are about to share an article without opening it."

Facebook tries to encourage people to actually check the information they are sharing by adding: "Sharing articles without reading them may mean missing key facts." Users aren't blocked from sharing the unread piece; the prompt offers the options of opening an article or continuing to share it.

Facebook describes the feature as "testing a way to promote more informed sharing of news articles." Hopefully, the pop-up will make at least some users think twice before hitting that share button.

Starting today, we’re testing a way to promote more informed sharing of news articles. If you go to share a news article link you haven’t opened, we’ll show a prompt encouraging you to open it and read it, before sharing it with others. pic.twitter.com/brlMnlg6Qg

— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) May 10, 2021

The biggest surprise here is that Facebook never introduced this earlier. Rival social network Twitter first tested an identical prompt in July last year "To help promote informed discussion." It launched in full last September.

Social networks must tread a fine line when it comes to clamping down on fake news without being accused of censorship, but this form of self-policing puts the onus on the user. Sadly, how much difference the prompt will make to Facebook's misinformation problem will likely be negligible.

In other Facebook news, we recently heard that Facebook Messenger is now the third of the company's properties to pass the five billion downloads milestone.

Image credit: Creative Lab

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89627-facebook-test-prompts-users-read-articles-before-sharing.html

 

[VitalyT]

That's like if TechSpot were forcing you to read the article before you can post a stupid comment.

There you go. Reading is overrated.

Scary thought...if Apple were to force you to read their full legal disclaimer before you can use their product, they would be out of business quickly.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I would ask more journalists to actually spellcheck, grammar check and VERIFY THEIR INFORMATION before they post their articles - if they wanna play this game.

The modern day "journalist" does neither of those things.

Bad information gets out.

And that's aside from the flat out rumor, conjecture and lies from the more biased "journalists".

If you wanna hold a race to post news - then don't be surprised if you breed that behavior in Social Media users.

 

[NightAntilli]

If titles were actually useful instead of clickbait, this wouldn't be as big of an issue.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Add a timer to the software and the label can be 'unread by human eyes' in cases of 'first-posterior-itis'.

 

[Thom Vee]

I'm outraged, reading an inflammatory headline should be enough.

Who needs to read?

/s

 

[Dimitrios]

If titles were actually useful instead of clickbait, this wouldn't be as big of an issue.

True that.

 

[viperfl]

Facebook then needs to follow their own rules. Facebook don't read a whole article before they ultimately fact check it.