Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
nytimes.com
Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#2It seems to me that the obvious answer to the question of why rumors are spread more than truth is that spreading truth requires using enough effort to discover the truth and spreading rumors requires no such effort.
It takes someone two seconds to click share on some garbage article, it takes another person a minute or two of Googling to see if something is true or not. Laziness is going to win out with more people than effort.
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#3It seems to me that the obvious answer to the question of why rumors are spread more than truth is that spreading truth requires using enough effort to discover the truth and spreading rumors requires no such effort. It takes someone two seconds to click share on some garbage article, it takes another person a minute or two of Googling to see if something is true or not. Laziness is going to win out with more people…
Not only does fact-checking take longer than blindly clicking "share", fact checkers are vastly outnumbered by blind-sharers. Of course the former is probably a big influence on the latter.
One of the things that really impresses me about Facebook lately is how often the first "suggested article" link under a bogus story is another story debunking it. If only more people paid attention...
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#4It seems to me that the obvious answer to the question of why rumors are spread more than truth is that spreading truth requires using enough effort to discover the truth and spreading rumors requires no such effort. It takes someone two seconds to click share on some garbage article, it takes another person a minute or two of Googling to see if something is true or not. Laziness is going to win out with more people…
Most people don't suspect they're being lied to, they're no less likely to research a factual article than one that is complete bullshit. The simple reason rumors are shared more often is that rumors are usually more interesting.
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#5False rumors are able to spread throughout a large population before being debunked. Corrections, however, are only really able to spread to people who previously saw the rumor. Furthermore, many people who shared the rumor may be less likely to share the correction, since it makes them look gullible for sharing the unverified rumor in the first place. So it's much harder for a correction to spread virally.
If there were a system in place so that false rumors could be debunked in real-time, in-line (as opposed to using a separate retroactive correction), they would be less likely to spread as far. The closest thing I can think of would be something like Genius.
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#6Rumors outrace truth, online or not; an observation allegedly made over 100 years ago by Mark Twain long before DARPA got a bright idea about networking: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” [0]
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/76-a-lie-can-travel-half-wa...
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#7False rumors are able to spread throughout a large population before being debunked. Corrections, however, are only really able to spread to people who previously saw the rumor. Furthermore, many people who shared the rumor may be less likely to share the correction, since it makes them look gullible for sharing the unverified rumor in the first place. So it's much harder for a correction to spread virally. If there…
You would need a system to decide which debunkings were legitimate.
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#8It seems to me that the obvious answer to the question of why rumors are spread more than truth is that spreading truth requires using enough effort to discover the truth and spreading rumors requires no such effort. It takes someone two seconds to click share on some garbage article, it takes another person a minute or two of Googling to see if something is true or not. Laziness is going to win out with more people…
This is similar to a debate technique known as the "gish gallop". The idea is that you use your debate time to make many claims that are false or half-true which will take longer and can be more difficult to debunk than to simply state the claim. This is effective in formal debates where each debater's time is limited , so that your opponent is forced to spend most of their time defensively rather than advancing their own argument.
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#9False rumors are able to spread throughout a large population before being debunked. Corrections, however, are only really able to spread to people who previously saw the rumor. Furthermore, many people who shared the rumor may be less likely to share the correction, since it makes them look gullible for sharing the unverified rumor in the first place. So it's much harder for a correction to spread virally. If there…
Long ago debunked rumors spread just as fast.
When I was in MIDDLE SCHOOL two decades ago there was a rumor spreading around saying gangs kill people who flash their headlights at cars who drive around without their lights on at night.
According to Wikipedia it is older than that, it has been around since the 80s[1].
This is completely false and has been debunked for an extremely long time.
However about 6 months ago it was being shared ALL OVER my Facebook feed like it was new "news." All anyone had to do was take TWO SECONDS to see if what they were sharing was true or not. That's asking too much. I don't think anyone cares they are spreading false information.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlight_flashing#Urban_legend
Re: Why Rumors Outrace the Truth Online
#10False rumors spread fast because most of them are juicy or salacious. I bet boring rumors (true of false) don't spread at all.
Try this one on for size:
Dental studies show people who floss regularly have 3% less cavities than those who don't.