Linked – Falling for the joke: the risk of using Twitter as a news source
The BBC is hardly the first organization this has happened to, but you’d like to think news orgs who hold themselves out to be reputable would do better.
“The trouble that the BBC got itself into on Wednesday morning, when both online and on air it referred to tweets from a parody Zanu PF account, illustrate the complexities of using social media as a reporting resource. This can be especially true in fast-moving news situations, where news organisations may have few reporters directly on the ground.
While many parody accounts on social media are used simply for humour, they can frequently be utilised for deliberate mischief.”
Like I said, it happens. I’ve seen so many fake trades by sports teams, and other examples of this that I pretty much don’t believe anything if it’s not accompanied by a link to more information, and that link goes to an article with actual, verifiable, information as well. Everything else is just complete strangers typing words. Why would anyone give that so much credence? Or am I just a cynic?
Follow these topics: Links, SocialNetworking
