Monday, April 27, 2009
swine flu infects twitter
The recent outbreak of swine flu has not only taken 100s of lives already, but it has terrified millions around the world. Today, CNN.com reported that Twitter is partially to blame for false information and scares in certain parts of the country and world. This is just another example as to why we cannot trust Twitter as a news source. One quote from the article read,"This is a good example of why [Twitter is] headed in that wrong direction, because it's just propagating fear amongst people as opposed to seeking actual solutions or key information," said Brennon Slattery, a contributing writer for PC World. "The swine flu thing came really at the crux of a media revolution." While Twitter seems to be a harmless form of micro-blogging, it aids in the spread of terror during drastic times like these. See the full article here.
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I agree, but I don't think Twitter should be singled out...I've seen misleading comments on MySpace and Facebok as well about the swine virus.
ReplyDeleteThere is a general point about social networking here, as Agata points out, and these kinds of interconnections do enable rumor and misinformation to spread just as quickly, if not more so as reliable news and knowledge. But Twitter seems to be the most telegraphic in that sense, the most transmission oriented, being all about messaging whereas other sites are also about profiles, blogs, videos, music, games and other applications, etc.
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