It might be easy to brush off all the recent talk of fake news, but then again, 2016 proved misinformation can have real consequences.
Fake news has the potential to hurt the reputations of individuals, businesses and organizations. And though fake news has been around for thousands of years, social media has created endless channels for contrived stories to spread quickly and gain false credibility.
But before taking a closer look at how fake news can affect small businesses, let's define the issue: What is fake news, and where does it come from?
Fake news websites are created to deliberately publish hoaxes, propaganda and misinformation. They use social media to drive traffic and amplify their effect. These websites are a cottage industry bringing in real money for their publishers.
Many of the stories are totally made up, while some plagiarize facts from established news outlets and fabricate from there.
About 62 percent of Americans get their news from social media, according to Pew Research Center surveys. Of that number, 44 percent get their news specifically from Facebook. In 2016, 23 percent of Americans, knowingly or not, shared a made-up news story, Pew found. All the made-up news has caused a lot of confusion.
So, how exactly does fake news hurt businesses?
A prime example of a small business feeling the effects of fake news is a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., called Comet Ping Pong. It was the target of unfounded rumors alleging it was the center of a child-abuse ring run by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chair, John Podesta. That story was completely untrue, but the restaurant's owner and employees were subject to so many social media threats that police had to be stationed at the location to protect patrons, many of whom were families.
The situation escalated when a man from North Carolina, fueled by the baseless stories, entered the restaurant with a gun and fired it. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Business was affected, but lives could have been lost.
Comet Ping Pong was the direct target of the fake stories. But these sorts of stories can indirectly affect businesses, too.
Case in point, a photo taken by a Twitter user that supposedly showed buses transporting paid protesters in Austin, Texas, to a site where Donald Trump, then a president candidate, was speaking.
That's not what was actually happening, but the photo went viral.
Turns out, the buses were transporting software company employees to a conference. Indirectly, two companies _ the bus company and the software company _ were drawn into the fake story and had to react.
So, what can organizations do?
Due to the viral nature of hoax news, it frequently appears high in search results. As time passes, though, it generally falls off the first page of results.
What if those negative search results aren't going away, though?
Your business might need to use what's called a reverse search engine optimization program. This technique will create positive mentions of your business to outrank the negative results. This is done through issuing media releases, adding new content to your website, posting regularly to social media pages, and encouraging customers to write online reviews.
And while we're on the topic, what can news consumers do?
_Consider the source of the information
_Read beyond the headline
_Check the author
_Look to see if the information stands up to fact-checking
_Check the date
Together, we can limit fake news.
