Does Facebook Need a Tag for Satirical Shares?
Word on the playground is that Facebook is currently testing a new feature that would allow users to tag shared items as satire, meaning the days of laughing at idiotic reactions to Onion articles on social media could be numbered.
From Benjamin Pimental of MarketWatch:
“We are running a small test, which shows the text ‘[Satire]’ in front of links to satirical articles in the related articles unit in News Feed,” a Facebook spokeswoman told MarketWatch. “This is because we received feedback that people wanted a clearer way to distinguish satirical articles from others in these units.”
Apparently common sense alone isn’t a clear enough way to distinguish fact from silly fiction. But, as Pimental notes, common sense wasn’t enough to prevent the official Chinese Communist Party newspaper from sharing an Onion article about Kim Jong Un being named Sexiest Man Alive.
While this particular tag isn’t guaranteed to pop up in your News Feed any time soon, it does reek of an effort to cater to the lowest common denominator of Facebook users. Then again — not all satire sites are as skilled (or well intentioned) as The Onion or its BuzzFeed-esque offshoot, ClickHole.
What do you think of a potential satire tag? Is it necessary? Is it censorship? Let us know your opinion.
Read more at MarketWatch
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