Social media, regardless of platform, is a social process. It is a space to both consume and create information. Using social media to "get" news is not a bad thing, but we as consumers must do so in a deliberate and conscious way.
Beyond thinking about where a story (or image, or video, etc.) comes from, consider who is posting it. We can't assume that just because we trust an individual friend or family member that they have critically evaluated a source before sharing it. We all share the responsibility as critical and intelligent citizens to check, second guess, or research anything we see online, especially before we pass it on.
The ability to be a savvy social media consumer and creator is a form of digital literacy. A group of incoming students at Harvard recently learned what can happen when we forget the social aspect of social media: How to Keep Your College Admission Offer: Digital Literacy. There are no truly "private' spaces online, and nothing posted online can ever be truly deleted.
