(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection - Editor's Notes by Christina Myer)

Judging by what I saw on one of my social media feeds at the end of January, quite a few Mid-Ohio Valley residents were exposed to a post that made it appear as though former basketball player for Parkersburg South High School and University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers Head Coach Kim Caldwell had big plans in Parkersburg for some of her money.

It looked believable enough. Seemed like it came from a reputable Tennessee organization, but as one reporter who was assigned to look into the story discovered, there were a lot of pop-ups to click and hoops to jump through if a person wanted to try to read more of the “story.”

Hundreds of people shared the fake post. But here in the newsroom, we had the luxury of being able to quickly go to the source.

“That’s AI. Thank you for checking!” Caldwell told another of our reporters when we contacted her Monday.

Artificial intelligence hallucinations and other forms of fakery have gotten more prevalent and more convincing on social media in such a short period of time that trusting readers have a hard time keeping up.

It has only been a generation or two ago that media organizations held themselves to such a high standard that consumers of information could be reasonably certain what they were seeing, hearing and reading was as accurate as the presenter could make it. If something was inaccurate, it was a mistake, not a deliberate attempt to mislead.

We here at the newspapers continue to hold ourselves to the standard that we must be as accurate, thorough and fair as possible; and if we make a mistake, we will correct it. We owe it to you to keep earning your trust that way.

Most of the rest of you could not have called Caldwell upon seeing the social media post to confirm its authenticity. But what CAN you do?

As one of our reporters put it, it’s almost a good rule of thumb to pause if you see something so good you feel the urge to click share immediately. Take another look. Is it too good, too amazing, or does it suit your hopes or agenda a little too well? Better do some digging.

Remember, politicians have told us they are not above intentionally spreading falsehoods in support of the larger story they hope we will let them tell. We know outside organizations spent a lot of time sewing discord with fake and false social media posts even as early as the run-up to the 2016 elections.

And we know there is always someone out there who just gets a kick out of seeing how gullible the rest of us might be.

Your weapons against those things are common sense, critical thinking and the willingness to go to fact-checking websites or otherwise do your own research through reputable sources.

It was a bit disheartening when Ohio State’s Vince Castillo, an assistant professor for the Department of Marketing and Logistics, said artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming almost undetectable.

But readers must ask themselves, “What is the source of the content? Is the content source trustworthy? How long has the account been active?” He also recommended avoiding quick shares, likes or comments in favor of pausing to do a little research.

“We are in a dangerous place because we’ve been taught to immediately react to what we see on social media,” Castillo said. “It’s meant to quickly distribute information rather than pause and look into its accuracy.”

Spreading falsehoods, no matter whether it is intentional, is more than just irritating. It’s dangerous. It deepens distrust at a time when it seems we are already at each other’s throats at the slightest opportunity.

(Speaking of being at each other’s throats: Rather than gleefully pointing out to someone publicly that they have shared a falsehood, in most instances it may be better to gently and privately let someone know they’ve made a mistake.)

Please. Look carefully, do some fact-checking and reconsider before you share. We’re better than all this.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com