Transcript:
If you use social media, you’ve likely seen heated online arguments, outrageous posts, or conflicting news about climate change.
McCharen: “It’s just very prevalent that people will share emotionally exciting information that they find that isn’t truthful. And there are lots of bad actors out there who want to share bad information.”
Jennifer McCharen of the Sierra Club says reading this can make people feel confusion or despair.
So she leads a team of more than 1,300 volunteers who are fighting back – not by arguing with online trolls but by uplifting truthful content.
Each week, her team sends a few accurate social media posts to these volunteer ‘Climate Truth-Tellers’ and asks them to flood the comments.
The volunteers share why they care about the issue or how it affects their own community.
McCharen: “This may seem small, but it actually helps influence platform algorithms to boost the visibility on those posts and help ensure that good information gets seen by more people.”
And it’s an approach anyone can use.
McCharen: “Weighing in with positive, truthful interaction is important, not only because of the social media algorithms, but because other people will see your comment, and then if they agree with you, but they don’t feel like speaking up, they’ll know that they’re not alone, too.”
Reporting credit: ChavoBart Digital Media
