Social Times - Latest Comments in Social Media is Great for Rumors

Re: Social Media is Great for Rumors

whitneymcn — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:37:33 -0000

I think that with social media, as with all other media, the responsibility is shared.

"You" (i.e. not you in particular, but all of us) as author have a responsibility to make the effort to ensure that the information you're providing is accurate, though what that means varies from case to case: sometimes "I trust the person from whom I got this information" may feel good enough, and other times "I need direct confirmation from someone involved before I believe this" may be the line.

"You" as reader have a responsibility to exercise the same sort of judgment when reading: authors make mistakes, authors have their own perspectives, and authors may even provide incorrect information for their own purposes, nefarious or otherwise.

I don't feel it's reasonable to entirely abdicate this responsibility in either role, but if I had to choose I would that one has greater responsibility as an author. You are implicitly vouching for the accuracy of information by choosing to share it; if you're talking about a rumor, make it very clear that it's a rumor -- provide your readers with enough information about how you got your information that they can fulfill their part of the bargain and judge for themselves.

Re: Social Media is Great for Rumors

Bob London — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:39:55 -0000

Nick, I've been keeping up with SocialTimes for a few weeks, and I have to say it is wonderful reading. Very timely and relevant to those who, like me, are incorporating social media into broader marketing strategies and programs. Keep up the great work and the fine writing.

Re: Social Media is Great for Rumors

Mark Neigh — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:23:55 -0000

Your in good company: Carl M. Cannon has a pretty dead on article, The Real Computer Virus, on how even the most trustworthy news sources crack under the misinformation of the Web.

Re: Social Media is Great for Rumors

Geoff Livingston — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:57:34 -0000

You make a great case for journalism. Blogging is not journalism, and we really need both media forms. Accuracy is a primary reason.

Re: Social Media is Great for Rumors

sujamthe — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:13:10 -0000

Nick,

Its admirable of you to come out and correct the rumor in your blog.

I think the beauty of social media is that its fast, interlinked and people have so little time to react which on the upside carries the passion of the bloggers on the topic.

I am a big believer of extending web products to passionate users to create an evangelical effect. So I see that facebook got market feedback on a Music service free of cost because of you. They should maybe try to market test some of their futuristic ideas by opening up and exploring it with the blog world before actually building it the way they think their users are likely to adopt it. Imagine how much hassle it would have saved facebook if you started such a snowball about Beacon before it went live :)

Re: Is it the reader’s job to determine what information is right

I think we all peg our loyalty to set of blogs and media sites like yours to give not just correct information, correct analysis to feed us data to think and consume what we like.