Before you Share that Story About the Morgue Worker Conceiving a Dead Man's Child, Check the Facts First

You see some crazy and off the wall stories shared on Facebook and your first instinct is to share them just to shock your friends. I mean when you read a story about a necrophilic morgue worker giving birth to a baby she conceived by having sex with a dead man, or a couple on meth turning into cannibals, that's not something you hear or read about too often.

Just because you are reading this stuff on social media does not mean that these stories are true. Unfortunately many people have very little to do other than write up some hoax story to play with people's minds. Of course they want those stories to go viral because they get something out of it. They may either make money or get the attention they need by convincing everyone to believe their hoaxes. However, these stories are always shown to be fake at some point or another!

If you see an off the wall story go viral, before sharing it there are steps you can take to find out whether the news is a hoax or not.

1. Check Snopes. I know that http://www.snopes.com isn't perfect or always accurate. However, it's usually realiable enough to indicate whether a story that has been shared on social media is real or not.

2. Google it and if reputable news sites share the story, chances are it's true. I do this as well. If there are multiple reputable sources sharing the news, chances are it's true. Strange and crazy things do happen.

3. Listen to the news. Watching the news on television or listening to the news on the radio is not something we are used to doing anymore. There is news all over social media anyway so who needs to listen to it elsewhere? However news that is broadcasted on television or the radio will cover real off the wall stories. If it's on the news that you can watch and listen to, then it's legitimate.

4. Ignore a friend messaging you on Facebook warning you of something that sounds silly. This usually applies to warning people about denying friend requests from hackers that don't exist. Like what just happened with the Jayden K Smith hoax.

These are the best ways to filter out hoaxes and to share the goods that have been proven to be true.

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