For instance, a few weeks ago, the following image was being spread around on social media.
A man had allegedly been served a deep fried rat at a KFC restaurant. Based on the amount of traction the claim got, people seemed to believe it. However, the "rat in your fast food" is a long standing urban legend that goes back to at least the 1970s, so I was very skeptical of this. I went right into fact checking mode and headed over to snopes.com, which investigates all sorts of claims like this. Turns out I was right to skeptical. The rumor was completely false (http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/friedrat.asp). This false rumor damages the KFC brand and may convince people to avoid eating there. While that is not the worst thing in the world, it is a reputation the company doesn't deserve.
While this rumor never gained much traction in my social network, I have had to be the jerk who corrected people when they shared other false information. With great power comes great responsibility. It is up to us, the networked individuals, to ensure that misinformation isn't being spread through our networks, because that information will propagate throughout many other networks if we do not stop it. This means not sharing information unless we know for sure that it is true. This means fact checking other members of our social network, even if it makes us feel like jerks.
What do you think? Are there other ways we can stop misinformation from spreading? What other responsibilities do networked individuals have?
Greg, you've pointed out the double-edged sword of social media: once something is claimed on the Internet, it's impossible to get rid of entirely. I'm sure that as we speak, bloggers are typing screeds about how that Kentucky Fried Rat is not a hoax and that the mainstream carnivore media is keeping them down. There's a great book that just came out by Jon Ronson called "So You've Been Publicly Shamed" (Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/So-Youve-Been-Publicly-Shamed/dp/1594487138) that investigates how one stupid mistake can destroy entire careers.
ReplyDeleteIt's up to responsible readers and networkers to keep an even keel when these sorts of things dominate the discussion. There are resources for disproving ridiculous claims (Snopes.com being the foremost example) and, despite how fast media moves, it's best to do as much research as possible into a given controversy.
I definitely agree. And I'll have to check out that book. Thanks for the recommendation!
DeleteInterestingly, a similar attack on KFC happened this week in Kazakhstan (7000 miles away from the US).
ReplyDeleteMaybe, it’s just a coincidence, but my opinion is we cannot stop misinformation from spreading because someone purposefully encourages that spreading while pursuing their own goals.
I mean, KFC is pretty low quality food, even by fast food standards. So it kind of makes sense that KFC is a frequent target of these types of rumors. :)
DeleteThat said, it takes many, many people for a false rumor to work. I don't think that most people sharing false information are doing it to purposely mislead people. Rather, I think that they are simply not critically considering the information and doing the research. Can't we help people to be more critical of information they read online? And wouldn't that be a way to stop the spread of misinformation?
I have an answer, but I am not sure Facebook as a for-profit organization will ever implement it. We can stop the spread of misinformation by making it harder to spread anything. Now, you just need to click on the “like” icon to share a rumor with your friends. On the contrast, if it took a lot of effort to do that (e.g., you would need to upload it only from your own computer/device), few people would participate in rumors’ spreading.
DeleteWhat do you think?
Hi, Greg,
ReplyDeleteYour post reminders me a word "cyberbullying". With the development of social media, a small mistake could be a big sin. For example, a boy just showing strong desire to excel over others in a Chinese TV show could cause many network user using exaggerate words to curse the boy.
Certainly we can all be scrutinized more than ever before, which is why small mistake can bloom into something much worse. In regards to the Chinese TV show, do you care to elaborate? Is that something that actually happened?
DeleteI think we all have a responsibility to make sure that the information we share is vetted and accurate before we hit that "share" button. Unfortunately, many people don't- or they assume that a particular source is always going to be correct. What I find terrifying is that whatever we believe, we only need to type in a few strokes on the internet and we can find information that validates our beliefs- regardless of whether they are rational, sensible or correct. I guess that's the price we pay for having such a vast amount of information within easy reach.
ReplyDelete~Kendall
This is exactly why we are still arguing about vaccines! Parents who are looking for a reason not to vaccinate their children will easily find it (even though it is all wrong).
ReplyDelete