One of the great negative impacts of Media 2.0 has been the ease with which a person can post a meme or other message that is misguided. Satirical links are often taken as real news only to be discounted in Facebook comments under the original post. Hooray for group moderation, right?

The issue is that even if the comments section offers corrections, the initial post with a status taking it seriously remains in the feed. Worse, the more that people interact with the post, the more it circulates.

Think this is rare? Less rare than you’d like to believe. Worse, there is no exact protocol for this kind of situation. While companies have a policy for dealing with mistakes online, personal responsibility in this form in the digital atmosphere is far less developed.

Naturally, the best move is to avoid doing this in the first place by carefully vetting your sources. On the other hand, for those who may run into this, here’s the three-step method for overcoming posting something false on social media.

#1: Announce a retraction to everyone in the comment pool.
When you misinform a friend or colleague, apologize. It’s only right! Besides, others will understand that you did the right thing. Announce to the comment pool that you were off and that you should have been more on your game.

#2: Change the heading of your comment starting with “Update”.
This is what news pieces do to print headline retractions. “Update” at the top of the post indicates that something has changed. Something has changed in your post, so this is appropriate.

Note: If you mess up badly enough and the headline of the post inspires fear or otherwise harms others, take the post down altogether. Examples would include posting the name of an innocent person as an alleged criminal (as was the case on Twitter with the Boston bomber suspect) or saying a disease has spread through somewhere where it does not exist.

#3: Pin it to the top of your wall for a while
You can pin a post to the top of your newsfeed in Facebook. Do so. This indicates you are serious and gives those most likely to have seen it a quick view of your retraction. This transparency means a lot to your reputation and those around you. More people should do this.

Remember: Printing hoaxes can lead to really nasty results. The burden to determine what is true and what is satire is on the reader. There is always a way to determine if a story is true or false with a little bit of research. We wanted Web 2.0, with citizen journalists and high-flying content. Well guess what? We got it. Now, everyone is a newsroom; everyone has a megaphone. And the more you say you are in media, the more others will expect you to speak properly and act responsibly.

Be part of the solution. Confirm your information by Googling it. Be a part of the free flow of information rather than the slowing snow of misinformation.