DICTIONARY.COM has declared "misinformation" as 2018 Word of the Year.
"The rampant spread of misinformation poses new challenges for navigating life in 2018. As a dictionary, we believe understanding the concept is vital to identifying misinformation in the wild, and ultimately curbing its impact," the website said.
Dictionary.com defines misinformation as “false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead.”
The online dictionary also clarified that "misinformation" is different from "disinformation." It describes disinformation as “deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda.” Hence, one cannot interchange the two words.
"While the word misinformation has been around since the late 1500s, the nature of how information spreads has gone through drastic transformations over the last decade with the rise of social media. For most individuals on social media, fact-checking is an afterthought, if it is a thought at all, and misinformation thrives," Dictionary.com said.
It is no surprise that the word became Dictionary.com's word of the year. With the credulity or gullibility of many social media users, they are quick to share information that has not been verified or fact checked.
For instance, after the firefight between government forces and NPA rebels in Talomo, Davao City on Monday, people began spreading messages that it was actually the ISIS-inspired Maute Group that the authorities fought with.
The message spread like wildfire on social media and through text messages causing confusion among the public.
It is still a long way to go for many Filipino netizens to become responsible on social media. There is still a lot to be done by concerned sectors on promoting responsible social media.
Maybe one way we can do this is by making it more accessible to the public channels where they can verify their information. Other government agencies could be capacitated on social media management to be able to bring information more quickly to the public and avoid confusion.
Advocacy groups can also do their part by launching a campaign against misinformation. Here they should educate the public on the importance of "Think before you click or share".
The media can also do its part by sharing to the public how they can verify information that is questionable.
At present, with how way things are between the social media and netizens, it will take a whole village to raise the importance of verification and fight misinformation.