Have you ever seen a RT, +1 or Like about something that made you think, “Huh?”
There are those who see something from the Onion and laugh, and those that think it’s serious news.
How many times have you shared something on social media by only reading the title?
[sheepishly raises hand]
Eric Drass was suspicious of viral content, so he started an experiment. Here’s what he has to say about it:
“Often these snippets of information are passed, uncritically, across the network, because they are entertaining, or provocative, or (more dangerously) support our world view. But this process of passing facts around is open to abuse, where “facts” are fabricated, and uncritically passed on.
The legitimacy of information is dependent on the trustworthiness of the source, but often this is unclear, and often overpowered by a compelling image….
There is a battle between the “shareability” of information and it’s “truth”…”
Eric’s experiment consisted of creating a automated Twitter account that generates invented facts.
Here’s a sample:
This is a good reminder to double-check what you share online. This reminds me of those old emails about Johnson & Johnson and crazy boycotts based on false claims. The Internet and technology may be moving forward at an incredible pace, but we are all just as human as we were 100 years ago.
You can check-out the Factbot Twitter account and the accompanying Tumblr account.
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