Estrategias para identificar fake news en facebook y competencias digitales en usuarios machaleños para evitar desinformación en noticias sobre COVID-19

Abstract

Over time, technology has evolved and with it traditional communication media, transporting itself to digital platforms such as social networks, this has been largely positive, facilitating communication, interaction, and information; However, it has brought negative things such as fake news or false news and in times of pandemic this has multiplied in order to misinform, attract attention, give a bad image to an institution, public figure or simply for some benefit of who creates the false news. And it is also at this time where people know their weaknesses and strengths with respect to the use of technology and the analysis of information. On Facebook there are satire pages that try to confuse users with verified digital media pages, which are dedicated to creating and publishing false news in real contexts. But on the other hand, there are also pages dedicated to journalism that occasionally share false news, these being a risk, by sharing false information about alleged treatments to cure covid-19 by threatening the lives of people who continue to believe that it is something real . The objective of this research is to analyze the digital skills of Machalean users and the strategies that allow identifying fake news on Facebook about covid-19. In the first place, interviews were carried out with experts on the topic of fake news where the different strategies will be identified so that citizens know how to identify fake news on Facebook and thus, make them known and when faced with fraudulent information, power Recognize it and avoid sharing it, when doing them it was possible to collect strategies both for citizens and for a communication professional. Also, through a focus group, the digital skills that each citizen has will be determined taking into account their age range and the sector where they live. And the last instrument applied in this investigation is the observation of content of false news about covid-19 that circulated on Facebook in the month of March, April and May. The results obtained show a list of strategies aimed at citizens and journalists that will allow the rapid identification of fake news on Facebook. In addition, it was possible to know the digital skills that the Machalean users of this social network possess, which is why it is concluded that both people between 18 and 65 years old have basic knowledge about the recognition of characteristics that a false news has, but they do not have any knowing about the tools that Facebook offers to circumvent fake news and collaborate to counter it by reporting it. In the search and observation of the content of fake news about covid-19, the characteristics of this type of news that are disseminated regularly are evident, such as the type of writing, the images they use, the headlines, page name, logo , absence of data or testimonies, among other characteristics that make them more easily recognizable.