Check Your Facts before You State Them

If you’re on the web and part of what you do is providing advice to other people, you have a responsibility to make sure that advice is based in sound facts. If you want to say that you, personally, have found social media to be the most valuable way to get new clients, and that you, personally, have found that people who like you trust you more, then go for it.

But that’s not what’s happening. Bloggers, business owners, authorities and other providers are making absolute statements, as if their advice applies to everyone, everywhere – without verifying the truth.

That’s just irresponsible.

Journalists have it way tougher than “experts” on the net. If journalists write an article and state something, they have to make doubly – triply – sure that it’s a fact and that it isn’t anything else. When quoting people, it has to be exact. It has to be credited back to the source, too, so that no one gets in trouble over it.

They have to check their facts.

Just because you play the “expert” doesn’t mean it isn’t irresponsible to put out unverified statements as though they were facts. It’s destructive to so many people who put their faith in you as an authority in your field. These people put their dreams in your hands every day they take your advice.

Tell them what you think. Tell them your experiences. Tell them what your opinion is on various subjects. You can do all of that and not cause any damage.

But if you’re going to state that your opinion is unequivocally, absolutely factual, then you had better make damned sure you’re right.

Because if you don’t, you’re not just irresponsible. You’re dangerous.