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A schoolteacher's social experiment goes viral proving just how powerful the internet is

Deirdre McPartland shared a photo of a handwritten note on Facebook which reached as far as the US.
Deirdre McPartland shared a photo of a handwritten note on Facebook which reached as far as the US. Deirdre McPartland shared a photo of a handwritten note on Facebook which reached as far as the US.

A primary school teacher hoping to educate her pupils on the power of the internet has done just that after her social experiment went viral.

Deirdre McPartland, a teacher from Dublin, Ireland, wanted to teach her 10-year-olds about the variety of media sources available at their fingertips, and how easily accessible they were.

She said: “I wanted to highlight to the class how easily news can spread in today’s society while also addressing the issue that not everything we read is true and so unfortunately sometimes can lead to the misuse of media”.

The note
The note
(Deidre McPartland)

And so Deidre penned a letter to prove the power of social media and shared the note on Facebook, requesting others to share it.

The post has since been shared far and wide – including in the US, Canada, Brazil and Congo – over 14,500 times, with Deidre admitting she’d been overwhelmed by the response received.

Guess that’s point proven then?