If we've learned anything about social media over the past few years, it's that things can go viral fast. So fast, in fact, users often get swept away in sharing news and don't double-check if what they're spreading even checks out.
This, dear web citizens, is how hoaxes spread like wildfire across Facebook and Twitter, and you're left shaking your fist at the computer screen. Just last week, the Internet users shared pictures of Hurricane Sandy that ended up being completely fake, from an image of a shark swimming in a New Jersey street to a picture of the Statue of Liberty surrounded by violent waves, which was actually taken from a scene in The Day After Tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a Photoshopped image from the film Back To The Future also went viral earlier this year. Social media users thought the date Doc set the DeLorean to in the future had finally arrived. Not only did thousands of people share the picture in a matter of hours, it wasn’t the first time the hoax had occurred. (Haven't we learned anything, Internet?)
Here's a look at what you fell for in 2012, from a Justin Bieber-related hoax that caused fans to shave their heads to a celebrity death rumor so believable it accrued nearly a million Facebook fans.
Did you fall for any hoaxes this year? Let us know which ones in the comments below.