I’m working on a collection how checklists on what you need to do when you join some of the top social media platforms… Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram. The overarching theme I keep thinking about is how we all need to think like journalists before we post content into any platform. A blog, email, social media site… you name it. It’s so easy to hit publish, send, tweet, post before you really investigate the information.

Sometimes a story can seem too good to be true… And if you take a little time to investigate, you’ll probably discover you’re right. It isn’t true.

Imagine if just one sports reporter decided to look into Manti Te’o's story about losing his girlfriend and grandmother in the same week. Fact: His grandma passed away and it’s documented how close he is to his family. Fiction: He never had a girlfriend who was sick, in a car accident or died.

How did that come into the open? Because a couple of guys at a website called Deadspin took a little time to investigate. And once they started that basic investigation, they dug even deeper and found some huge lies.

The investigation Deadspin started could have been launched by anyone. It’s a perfect reminder for each person who publishes to think, search, ask questions and report what they’ve learned or fact disappears very quickly.