If you're like me, I love reading a hard copy newspaper in the morning while sipping a hot Cup-of-Joe but those moments are few and far between in my line of work.

When I started working in journalism and U.S. Navy public affairs over 22 years ago, the internet had not been available for commercial purposes.

We still printed hard copies and it was great. We had to wait for Tom Brokaw to tell us what was happening on the national news front until 6 p.m. each evening, which had its downfalls. Now, I read the news on my cell phone in the morning when I'm preparing for work and right before I go to bed at night.

Today, the news cycle is 24 hours a day. News breaks on the internet with each movement of the second hand and the news is everywhere. Our news continues to be delivered to us, but instead of our front door step, it's delivered to our hand-held devices. Today's news junkies have their pick of mediums without subscriptions via RSS feeds and it's all day long.

Billions of people are delivering news stories around the world 24 hours a day via the internet and it's great - but it comes with a consciousness and responsibility. Fact checking resides now more with the readers than the editors or publishers, it seems, so it's up to us to check the credibility of content before we share on social media.

Fact checking also helps those of us employed by the federal government to conduct solid Operations Security. Without awareness, we're not practicing good Operations Security and we're giving away information that could be very credible.

Think about Operations Security in another way.

How many Facebook or Twitter posts have led to national network news stories about a hoax, or a hack? Because the news cycle is based on seconds now, news sources are thin and stories are written based on portions of the story rather than the complete and full story report.

News stories break sometimes on slow news days based on only speculation or accusations. This leads to drawn out news coverage of a single story that in years past would never have had a headline.

Yet with what some might perceive as decay in journalism, there is value in the use of internet news and social media. It offers organizations, like Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, to reach intended publics and demographics quickly and with credible news stories about initiatives, long-form features, or hard news. It allows us to recruit and in times of crisis communicate real-time messages intended to keep people safe.

The bottom line is all internet and social media users must demand credibility and not just with their news. Credibility of websites comes in nothing short of authenticity - check out that URL before you click on it. It could be a phishing attempt. Social media users should always authenticate the people they are speaking to whether it's in a chat forum, discussion board thread, or instant message.

Ask yourself how you know this person is who they say they are and then ask yourself if what you're talking about is appropriate. If you're talking about what a great job you have, check yourself. Are you talking about the specific program you're associated with, your security information, or the results of test reports?

If you are then be prepared because you might have just given an online interview without even knowing it.
Lastly, check your phone, and application settings. An easy way to give away valuable information about a person, capability or project is with geotagging. Anyone - especially the bad guys whoever they are - can figure out where you shot those photos if you don't turn off the geotag mechanism feature in all digital SLR cameras, point and shoots, and especially that newly upgraded versions cell phones.

Why does it matter? Because protecting information - to include your personal information - is practicing good Operations Security. It's everyone's responsibility so if something online doesn't pass the sniff test, chances are it's not credible.

Like my former newspaper editor used to say, "if your mother tells you she loves you - check it out."

For more news from Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, visit www.navy.mil/.