Please don't just share this post.

Ive noticed recently an increase in posts on Facebook that request that you don't share a post you copy and paste it. It will have a story and then the sentence similar to below.

Please don't just share this post. By copying and pasting all YOUR contacts will see it too. If you share someone's status only your mutual friends will see it.

There are a few reasons for this and the fact that only your mutual friends will see it is only partially correct.

So here is a little list

1. Whether a wider audience can see a post depends on the privacy setting that the original person set.
2. By copying and pasting you create a new instance of the message that is separate from the original and is no longer controlled.
3. Fake news and scam posts are easily spread this way, and makes it hard to track the originator, yup that's why they want you to cut and paste.
4. If a fake news or scam item is just shared, it can be deleted by Facebook and all the shared instances will disappear.  Yup 10,000 shared instances will all disappear at same time. But not if its copied and pasted.
5. The other thing is scammers use the copy and paste ploy to target people. The post will normally contain a phrase with mis-spelt words. People that have shared a post by cutting and pasting can be found via a google search using  site:facebook.com "key phrase here" the scammer can now see a list of all people that shared a post with that phrase in.
6. There might be a post relating to animal abuse... try it in the google search bar  site:facebook.com "animal abuse" or site:facebook.com "bet I wont get any likes" ... see what i mean?
7. If the phrase is related to say animal abuse they know there's a good chance you'll respond to other Animal abuse posts.
8. The only time you should really use cut and paste to share a post is if you know the origional sender, their privacy settings have it locked down and you want to share it to your friends. The only thing then is you should check why they have it locked down and are they happy for you to share it.

So there you go if your wondering why sharing is no longer good enough them's the reasons ... your being had. :-)