Using The Share Button Responsibly

Actions, as we know, have consequences.

But what if we never see those consequences? What if something we think is totally harmless was actually further reaching and more of a snowballing disaster than we could have imagined?

Enter: the "Share" button.

Facebook, which is what we're going to focus on for this article, has been with us since 2004.

The venerable "Like" and "Share" buttons have been a feature since 2010, so we've had a little time to make friends with them.

Their lineage can be traced to anyone who's willing to age themselves' favorite historic method of sharing content: email forwards!

Yes, in the bad old days if we discovered something on the internet which we found interesting or amusing, forwarding it to our friends by way of email was the standard way of sharing it.

Facebook, cunningly, tapped into this desire and presents us with a handy button.

In truth, shared interests are a powerful way of connecting with people. It's nice to have the ability to, with the click of a mouse, let someone know you're thinking of them and that you've found something you believe they might enjoy.

Be it an amusing cat video or the chance to learn what variety of cookie you'd be; making someone else's discovery of that content as simple as a press or a tap undeniably brings us together.

So at what point does social media become social responsibility?

Now the examples I've used above are deliberately benign ones. Nobody ever came to harm from watching a cat play the keyboard. What if, instead though, you'd decided that a headline regarding an alternative treatment for a well known illness was compelling enough to share?

You didn't really read it, thought it sounded solid enough on the surface and shared it up on your timeline.

What if trying what was outlined in that article resulted in a negative impact to someone's health? What if that person ended up in hospital, or worse?

The spread of misinformation is at an all time high. As it stands in 2021, 53% of Americans treat social media as a reliable source of information.

While on the surface this isn't a staggering statistic, it's estimated that around two thirds of the "Likes" content purporting to be factual garnered were attributed to news or information which was verifiably false.

When we consider 70% of us admit to having a Facebook account, the scope for something digital to spread totally unchallenged is vast.

If it sounds good, or bucks a trend, or claims to uncover some little known truth - it's probably well-shared.

What to do, then?

For starters, fully read whatever it is you're sharing!

Headlines are designed to grab our attention, is the piece it's associated with as revolutionary or intriguing as you initially thought?

I think another great way of owning the responsibility is spending even just a minute doing your own research.

I see so many opinions presented as facts which don't even begin to hold water when simply Googled verbatim.

If all else fails, use your common sense; we all know not to click those ads claiming to have the simple secret to losing weight which, for whatever reason, doctors hate.

Don't fall for those same disingenuous articles disguised with flowery prose!

I'm all for the free spread of information, but not bad and potentially dangerous misinformation.

Please, do your due diligence before you stand behind anything.

It doesn't take long and you're now better equipped to make an informed decision on clicking a button and spreading an idea.

Finally, in case anyone cares, I'd be an oatmeal raisin.

Richard Noble is the founder of Want For Tech, an IT company based in Glasgow.