The impact of false tweets
A false tweet has a tendency to take on a life of its own...
Every day, millions of people, either news outlets or readers, share tweets that have the potential to have an impact on society. Its simplicity in only allowing 280 characters per tweet (formerly 140 characters) led the social network to become widely used for news reporting. While many tweets have broken and continue to break important news, unfortunately, there can be some negative consequences to sharing unvetted information this way.
Twitter is a pretty popular platform for many reasons. People use it for fun or to find information, businesses use it to promote and reporting agencies use it to publish news. (Personally, it's my favorite social network to view trends and see what's going on in my area).
Then there are those who spread falsehoods. The negative effects can come in the form of false tweets or more recently dubbed "fake news". Earlier in 2018 it was widely reported false tweets far outpaced truthful ones, "thanks to people, not bots". The research found tweets containing falsehoods spread to 1,500 people six times faster than a truthful tweet.
Whether circulated through hacking or "fun", false tweets have an impact. Sometimes the consequences are easily corrected once the myth is realized, but other times the impact is much more severe and can have serious effects on individuals, businesses or even entire societies.
For instance, the April 23, 2013 tweet that came from the Associated Press Twitter account "reported" an explosion occurred at the White House with then President Obama sustaining injury. In reality, the agency's account had been hacked. In addition to the effect on a society with concern over their President, there were financial repercussions as well. As Bloomberg News reported, after the fake tweet was sent, the Dow dropped about 140 points almost immediately and "wiped $136 billion from the S&P 500."
Things recovered once the story was debunked, but this just shows how fast markets can change after one short untruthful tweet.
Once uncovered, Twitter will shut down fake accounts, but unfortunately, social media typically moves much faster. A fake tweet can be circulated hundreds or thousands of times within a very short time frame.
Due to the nature of how social media works, news tends to spread incredibly fast. Unfortunately, false tweets tend to take on a life of their own and race through the network like wildfire. Many times, these fires can be put out quickly, however, unfortunately by then, there are those times where there has already been heavy smoke damage which can be difficult to reverse.
Side note: I originally wrote this article back in 2013 and had it published elsewhere but updated it to reflect current happenings and republished it here. I found it interesting to find the consequences of false tweets we began to see years ago now has actual research numbers linked to illuminate the problem.
Every day, millions of people, either news outlets or readers, share tweets that have the potential to have an impact on society. Its simplicity in only allowing 280 characters per tweet (formerly 140 characters) led the social network to become widely used for news reporting. While many tweets have broken and continue to break important news, unfortunately, there can be some negative consequences to sharing unvetted information this way.
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| Image credit: Pixabay |
Then there are those who spread falsehoods. The negative effects can come in the form of false tweets or more recently dubbed "fake news". Earlier in 2018 it was widely reported false tweets far outpaced truthful ones, "thanks to people, not bots". The research found tweets containing falsehoods spread to 1,500 people six times faster than a truthful tweet.
Whether circulated through hacking or "fun", false tweets have an impact. Sometimes the consequences are easily corrected once the myth is realized, but other times the impact is much more severe and can have serious effects on individuals, businesses or even entire societies.
Hacked Twitter accounts
Hacking social media has become a popular pastime for some individuals or groups. While sometimes these hacks are done to "prove a point" or might even be harmless, other times they might have a significant domino effect.For instance, the April 23, 2013 tweet that came from the Associated Press Twitter account "reported" an explosion occurred at the White House with then President Obama sustaining injury. In reality, the agency's account had been hacked. In addition to the effect on a society with concern over their President, there were financial repercussions as well. As Bloomberg News reported, after the fake tweet was sent, the Dow dropped about 140 points almost immediately and "wiped $136 billion from the S&P 500."
Things recovered once the story was debunked, but this just shows how fast markets can change after one short untruthful tweet.
Fake Twitter accounts
Sometimes people take it upon themselves to set up a fake account and pose as an official news agency, political leader or business executive. A few of the times this has occurred have impacted financial trading or, in some cases, put a negative blot on a business' reputation.Once uncovered, Twitter will shut down fake accounts, but unfortunately, social media typically moves much faster. A fake tweet can be circulated hundreds or thousands of times within a very short time frame.
Other types of rumors
Other times, unheard of Twitter handles send out false tweets, such as was the case with Hurricane Sandy when fake images were tweeted out.Celebrity death news
Fake celebrity death news is another common event on Twitter. Over time, many celebrities have been reported to have "died", some multiple times. While these are also usually quickly debunked, these lies do spread quickly through the social media circles creating upset both for the celebrity and for his or her fans.Due to the nature of how social media works, news tends to spread incredibly fast. Unfortunately, false tweets tend to take on a life of their own and race through the network like wildfire. Many times, these fires can be put out quickly, however, unfortunately by then, there are those times where there has already been heavy smoke damage which can be difficult to reverse.
Side note: I originally wrote this article back in 2013 and had it published elsewhere but updated it to reflect current happenings and republished it here. I found it interesting to find the consequences of false tweets we began to see years ago now has actual research numbers linked to illuminate the problem.
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