People seem to create rumors about anything. There are several instances of false AMBER alerts as top trends. These rumors spread so quickly because Twitter users will re-tweet something without doing their own research on the subject. It's easier just to believe what someone says is true, and simply re-tweet it. The Kanye West trend was the first big rumor I experienced since joining Twitter, and since then, I Google all topics before re-tweeting them to my followers.
Why do you think people re-tweet false statements without first looking into them?
I also wrote about Jackie Chan. It is crazy how many people will believe whatever they see on these social media sites. When I first saw "RIP Jackie Chan" I tweeted "Did Jackie Chan really die?" seconds later I saw that it was false and was kind of embarrassed that I even tweeted that. So I am guilty of "almost" believing a false statement. I think people get so "excited" about news that they just retweet things. Or people see so many people tweeting about something and popular trends that they just assume that what Twitter says is true. I am glad that I caught myself making this mistake soon.
ReplyDeletePeople buzz about big news. people also don't take initative to check additional resources before retweeting because they are either niave or just lazy. You can't believe everything that's on the web. I personally wouldn't tewwt about a lie but there are several people that would to generate buzz and accumlate more followers. looking into reliable sources is important to consider when dealing with news on an open media site, where any post goes. Good post katie!
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