The Power of Twitter/Cell Phones to Misinform Part 4
08:22, 20 January 2010
.. Posted in Communication, Outreach and General Mngmt.. Link
As she woke up, she began deciphering the rumors. “Everyone was just passing on the story they heard via cellphone from ‘a friend’ or ‘my family.’
The press and various bloggers love to get breathless about Twitter, the micro-blogging tool that many people use to send and receive breaking news via their cell phones. People in Iran used Twitter/cell phone messages to organize massive anti-government rallies in Iran last year and people in Haiti used Twitter and text messages to let their family and friends know they were alive, and press and various bloggers couldn't talk about it enough. But ignored in these Twitter-is-the-greatest-thing-ever stories are the times that micro-blogging is used to spread rumors and myths:
- In August 2009, I blogged about how cell phones have been used in Afghanistan to spread hatred through urban legends about events in the USA.
- Also in August 2009, I blogged about how Web 2.0 tools were being used to spread misinformation about health care reform in the USA.
- In April 2009, I blogged about Twitter's power to misinform regarding the H1N1 virus/swine flu.
- In November 2008, I blogged about how misinformation was rampant on Twitter during the siege in Mumbai (to the point that Richard Quest, charged with reading Tweets live on CNN, finally threw up his hands and said he wouldn't read any more because messages were obviously unconfirmed and increasingly outrageous)
First, there's the CNN story of how Twitter users spread at least a few myths regarding helping Haiti. One was a myth that several airlines were flying any USA doctors and nurses who wanted to help in Haiti free of charge. Twitter users also circulated a rumor that UPS would ship for free any package under 50 lbs. to Haiti. Neither was true.
Next, "The Ghanaian Earthquake Hoax," as Ethan Zuckerman calls it: Many Ghanaians spent last Sunday night sleeping outside, for fear that a major earthquake would hit Accra. A rumor of an impending Earthquake had spread through cell phone text messages and blogs, and Zuckerman says "it's like a textbook example of how bad information spreads and how hard it can be to contain." The opening quote to my blog is from Zuckerman's blog.
Zuckerman notes that radio stations neither confirmed nor denied the rumors in the early morning hours. He says that, according to BBC’s David Amanour, PeaceFM – one of Accra’s radio stations – began calling the phone messages a hoax early in the morning, helping calm people’s fears. "Unfortunately, by the time government ministers began taking to the airwaves to calm people, thousands – perhaps millions – had left their homes."
Since 2004, I have been gathering and sharing both examples of this phenomena, and recommendations on preventing folklore, rumors and urban myths from interfering with development and aid/relief efforts and government initiatives. I'm not saying Twitter, micro-blogging or cell phones are evil. But governments, aid agencies and the media must be aware of just how easy it is to use these tools to spread misinformation, and have a strategy for preventing such or dealing with such when it happens. This problem is going to keep happening and, eventually, it's going to have deadly consequences.
(full disclosure: yes, I have a Twitter account. No, I don't believe everything I read on it -- or on blogs or in media reports, for that matter)
