Yahoo News 8 ways to consume news without using Facebook
The era of "fake news" is upon us and it's time to reconsider the ways in which we consume information.
After multiple media reports documented a severe rise in incorrect articles being shared on Facebook, the platform announced its plan to break the "fake news" cycle.
Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Saturday the company will introduce a number of measures to help with the infestation of fake news, including stronger detection, easier reporting tools, warnings and new advertising policies.
SEE ALSO: It’s time to stop blaming Facebook for fake news
Despite this action, the spreading of false news, which even caught President Obama's attention, should be a serious wake up call to start looking outside your News Feed for factual information.
Beyond simply learning to identify fake news, there are also precautions you can take to quit relying on Facebook and distance yourself from phony articles all together.
Here are some alternative resources to help you broaden your horizons:
feedly
Image: screengrab/feedly
It may be a little old school, but the reader is not dead.
The news aggregator application is a solid way to personally organize and filter the news you want to receive from legit publications. The RSS reader allows users to conveniently follow their favorite websites in one place and to see a constantly refreshable stream of new publications in real-time.
Along with the option to group sites into personal, customizable feeds, feedly also gives users the ability to share collections with others so you can ensure your teammates, friends and social networks are receiving factual news as well.
Image: screengrab/flipboard
Much like feedly, Flipboard presents the latest news on world happenings, technology, entertainment, design, health and more. However, it presents your news to you in an aesthetically pleasing magazine format, which is nice because sometimes reading news can be depressing AF.
In addition to reading its list of trusted sources, you can use Flipboard to filter topics that matter most to you and catch up on trending news via "The Daily Edition," which is composed of hand-picked articles by the editorial staff.
Apple News
Image: mashable composite: screengrab/apple news
Apple lovers, rejoice. You already have access to breaking news at your fingertips on your Apple devices. Apple's news app allows you to consume content in a similar fashion to Flipboard, with several customization options along with a slew of topics you can favorite. You can enable mobile or email notifications and easily share article on the app with others.
Image: mashable composite: screengrab/apple news
Podcasts
A homage to the good old fashioned days of listening to the radio, podcasts are the perfect way to catch up on the news on the go. Daily, weekly or monthly, news podcasts give you the opportunity to hear comments from experts, journalists and thoroughly-educated people on the latest in world happenings and politics after the news has had time to set in. The educational discussions might even help expand your view on opposing issues. Some essential recommendations include:
Online newsletters
Once you identify your core trusted news sites, consider subscribing to newsletters to ensure you don't miss a beat.
Daily newsletters such as theSkimm, The New York Times, Need 2 Know, The Quartz Daily Brief, NextDraft, and Politico Playbook will often offer brief summaries on the most important events of the day, which you can use to inspire your more in-depth searches.
Instant news alerts
Image: screengrab/App store
Pretend you are a reporter and get breaking news on your phone as soon as it happens.
Mobile apps like AP News and Breaking News will deliver the latest in local, national and global headlines wherever you are. Plus, with instant alerts you won't feel the need to constantly scroll through your social accounts to ensure you're not missing any huge happenings in the world.
If you really want to stay informed it's also worth going the extra mile to download apps from some of your go-to news sites and tinkering with their notification settings.
Reputable news sites
There's no better way to search for accurate news than by visiting reputable news sites directly. With tricky domain names trying to confuse users and send them into the fake news machine, it's important to pay close attention to the URLs being shared on social media sites.
For instance, you might think you're clicking on content from nbc.com, but you are actually being directed to an nbc.com.co address. The easiest way to avoid the confusion is directly seeking out the source of your desired content, the official website. Groundbreaking.
Image: screengrab/twitter
Like Facebook, Twitter can easily fall prey to the sharing of fake articles. Let's be real, sometimes it can be a total swamp. But if you give the social platform a chance and adjust some settings it can be a great source for news. Just ask the huge number of journalists lurking in the feed.
First, it's a good idea to block those pesky fake-news-sharing trolls. Making use of Twitter's new "mute" feature is your first step to success. The feature will prevent certain keywords, phrases and conversations from appearing in your notifications section.
Twitter has also introduced several changes over the past few years that will make your experience with the platform cleaner, such as the ability to flag abusive tweets, create a safety council and introduce a quality filter. Twitter Moments and Twitter Lists, such as this list of New York Times journalists, can also help with news gathering.
Though trending hashtags are not always reliable, you can use the overwhelming stream of information to stay up-to-date with your favorite news outlets and follow reporters, government officials and celebrities to receive direct, personal updates.
If you are just getting started, here are a few interesting people to follow:
Brian Stelter, CNN
Molly Ball, The Atlantic
Wesley Lowrey, The Washington Post
Samantha Bee, Comedian/Canadian Sweetheart
Joy Reid, MSNBC
Emma Watson, Actress and UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador
Trevor Noah, Comedian
Shaun King, New York Daily News
Andrew Kaczynski, CNN
Olivia Nuzzi, The Daily Beast
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Actor, writer, rapper
Good luck out there, everyone.
