Meta's recent decision to replace third-party fact-checkers with user-generated Community Notes marks a transformation in how truth is arbitrated online. According to Winston Ong, CEO of global outsourcing firm BruntWork, this change creates challenges and opportunities for businesses managing social platforms.
"The shift from professional fact-checkers to community-based verification changes the rules of engagement for brands online," observes Ong. "Companies face a dual responsibility of ensuring their content is factually accurate while simultaneously preparing to respond to community scrutiny that may not always be well-informed."
The Social Proof Dilemma
Meta's implementation of Community Notes, currently being piloted in the US across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, mirrors Twitter's approach to content moderation. Rather than relying on third-party experts to verify information, the system empowers users to add context to potentially misleading posts.
This approach taps into social proof or our tendency to determine appropriate behavior by looking at what others are doing. When multiple users flag or contextualize content, it creates a powerful signal that influences how other users perceive that information.
The challenge is that social proof can be both illuminating and misleading. "Research has consistently shown that people follow the crowd, even when the crowd is wrong," Ong notes. The psychological principle of pluralistic ignorance, where individuals privately reject a norm but publicly uphold it because they incorrectly believe others accept it, can lead to cascading misinformation.
A virtual assistant for social media must now navigate this complex terrain, understanding not just content creation but the psychology of how information spreads and is validated by communities.
The Ethical Imperative
The transition to Community Notes represents a democratization of truth that carries significant ethical implications. When anyone can challenge information, the responsibility to maintain accuracy becomes distributed but not equally.
"Brands with larger platforms bear greater responsibility," says Ong. "Their statements reach more people and thus have greater potential to mislead if inaccurate."
This verification process becomes increasingly complex when the arbiters of truth are now everyday users with varying degrees of expertise and potentially competing agendas. For businesses, this means investing in resources that can navigate this new reality.
"A social media virtual assistant today must be part content creator, part researcher, and part ethicist," Ong explains. "They need to anticipate how content might be challenged and prepare evidence-based responses before posting."
The Trust Economy
Ong describes credibility as currency in the trust economy. Brands that consistently provide accurate information build reserves of trust that protect them when mistakes inevitably occur. "Trust is built brick by brick," Ong emphasizes, "but it can collapse in an instant."
This reality makes proactive verification essential. Rather than waiting for Community Notes to flag problematic content, companies should consider implementing internal verification processes. These processes mirror the principle of social proof in a controlled environment where multiple team members review content before it goes live, creating a microcosm of the community verification that will occur on the platform.
The psychological principle at work here is arranging for audiences to be receptive to a message before they encounter it. By anticipating potential objections and addressing them proactively, brands can shape how their content is received.
The Automation Paradox
Social media management complexity continues to grow, making automation an appealing solution. AI tools can help schedule posts, generate content, and even predict audience reactions. However, Ong warns content creators and moderators of the automation paradox.
"The more we automate, the more we need human oversight," he explains. "AI can help scale operations, but it cannot replace human judgment, especially when ethical considerations are at play."
This paradox creates a growing demand for skilled professionals who can work alongside automated systems, providing the ethical oversight and cultural context that algorithms lack. The benefits of hiring a social media virtual assistant are apparent in this context, as these professionals, often working as outsourced team members through companies like BruntWork, serve as the human firewall between automated content generation and public consumption.
Charting the Future
Sailing through this new process of distributed fact-checking requires balancing efficiency with ethics. The pressure to produce content quickly must be tempered by the responsibility to ensure its accuracy.
For Ong, this balance comes through ethical outsourcing, partnering with specialists, virtual assistants, and content moderators who understand both the technical aspects of social media management and the ethical implications of content creation.
"When you outsource your social media management, you're entrusting your brand's reputation to others," he explains. "That trust requires partners who take their ethical responsibilities seriously."
The future of social media will likely see further evolution in how information is verified and validated. Community Notes represents just one step toward more transparent and accountable online spaces.
This article is published under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging program.
