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Exclaiming it out loud to everyone in the office. Then spreading via IM to numerous other people. Ugh, I feel so dirty. Snopes needs to sell branded soap so I can take a metaphorical urban legend shower.
In Austria, a blog post about Google negotiating to buy a piece of land in an urban town in Upper Austria made its way into several newspapers, some of which claimed that Google wants to build a data center there, or that Google already closed the deal. The blog post was based on nothing but a Twitter message that read "Google negotiating about 0.2 square miles company grounds in Kronsdorf?!?!?!".
Not only did newspapers not check the facts or point out that that's a highly speculative rumor, they over-exaggerated the story.
I believe for the most part, they do try to follow journalistic standards, but there are absolutely exceptions.
Geez, how cynical am I?
Of course Twitterers who repeatedly Tweet unchecked rumors could just be de-followed.
But whatever filters we could implant, we're living in an age when we all need to be journalists to some degree. Our default mode aught to be skepticism. What's the rush? Unless someone's life is at stake, why not take the time to vet a story, either through searches or just some time. They always seem to get outed anyway in due time.
it is a funny idea... but it wasn't original
http://simonstudiotheatre.blogspot.com/2007/05/...
So for those who care about the above factors, the incentive is to not spread false information.
http://summize.com/search?max_id=843578057&page...
The Jared thing didn't fool me as the first source I saw it from said it was most likely a fake.
re: "Smart People, Stupid Tweets. Fake News Spreads Fast on Twitter"
That headline reads strangely to me. Smart people don't believe things just on someone else's say-so.
.
Now that you've blogged about it, the idiot has achieved digital immortality.
Great post and great insight on being responsible. But the other thing to note is is the velocity and frictionless way in which data travels via twitter and nodes of users follower networks. That is the streamlined beauty of twitter.
Cheers!
OK, there is one small opaque weird link for medical adoptions on the bottom. But, nonetheless, it's got me thinking about Subway for dinner.