Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Fake and Overused Weather Photos: Avoid Sharing These Images Next Time You See Them On Social Media

Some of these are photoshopped, some are mislabeled, recycled from the past.

The commentary on each photo begins to the right of the photo.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/fake-overused-weather-photos-20140421

By Sean Breslin
Published: May 7, 2014

Social media has been a beneficial tool for weather forecasters in the 21st century. It allows meteorologists to give the public advance warning about a dangerous weather event, and, once the event begins, news gatherers use social media to quickly share images and video of a damaging storm system.

Conversely, social media has also made it easier to spread a lie. All it takes is one person to find an old picture or video, rebrand it as current and share it to Facebook or Twitter. Then it has the potential to go viral all over again.

Spotting fake photos isn't easy, but it's slightly simpler when abiding by one maxim: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. As for recycled weather photos that came from a past event, websites like Tineye and Google Image Search can help pick out reused images that were posted on the Internet long ago. To use Tineye or Google Image Search, just save the photo in question and upload it to either site. They will tell you if that photo has been previously shared on social media.

----- [See link above for photos and explanations]

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