Stop the Twitter hysteria. Think before you retweet. April 28, 2009
Posted by Jelmer de Jong in twitter.Tags: hysteria, retweet, swine flu, twitter
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This tweet was written today by @Frisco666, and in only a very few minutes the message was retweeted more than 100 times — without any evidence or verification of its truth. Take a quick look at the Twitter profile of @Frisco666 and you will see someone who is probably not the best person on earth to take at his word. And when you do some more research (like @rolandvanveen) you discover that this really is a hoax, intended to show the Twitter hysteria. Or as Frisco himself writes in a comment at a popular Dutch blog: “Now I going to say something stupid about the swine flu on Twitter and my follow count will double in 5 minutes”.
What really bothers me is that even some experienced Twitter users — the “I visit every Twitter meet up and give presentations about Web 2.0″ type of person — retweet these messages and increase the hysteria among their substantial follower base. They should know better than to perpetuate these kinds of remarks; they are the experts, right?
Stop the Twitter hysteria. Think before you retweet.
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.
As written at CNN.com (which of course let to anger in the Twitter scene).
Great comic related to the swine flu Twitter Hysteria: http://xkcd.com/574/
Ah well, we all know it’s easy to proclaim yourself an expert status on anything with social media or Twitter. It’s more about common sense. Always check your sources, that’s the first thing you learn at any school at any degree, and especially the ones teaching journalism and communications should pressure that much more!
But I agree of course…stop the hysteria (not just on Twitter
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I thought Twitter was all about wisdom of the crowds, how can the crowd go wrong? Is that possible?
And is it possible to stop hysteria? I Agree, journalists or those who pretend to be musn’t participate in the hysteria, they should check the facts. But the crowd is not a journalistic one, it’s just people. People tend to do stuff which is not good for them
It’s just gossiping on a large scale, nothing wrong with that?
Thank you Annelies. I agree with you although I am a bit more graphical about it.
If you fry a turd in hot oil and sell it as a snack. Who do you blame? The shitter, the fryer or the person who doesn’t recognize it and takes a bite??
I guess none of the above but the one who came up with the idea in the first place. We can’t stop people corrupting things others enjoy without thinking.
All we can do is reject participation in it.
And for the hysteria. All trustworthy organizations around the world like news media and governments have failed people massively in recent times.
So some found replacements, others alternatives and the majority reacts to rumors. Just in case. Being the first to know has become society’s priority .
I like the follow-up tweet of @Frisco666 better:
According to classified info from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, swine fly has now reached Belgium too.
http://twitter.com/Frisco666/status/1638498241
What classified info? Swine fly? It’s in Belgium? How did he get that inside scoop?
Feels just like a chainletter to me: “Help 6 years old girl with cancer by sending this mail. AOL and Microsoft will track this email and gives $0,10 per send message”.
Yeah right…
I close Twitter when some kind of hysteria takes over: swine flu, the ‘attack’ on Queen’s Day… It disturbs the regular stream of messages.