Swine flu: Twitter's power to misinform

[Paul Ferguson <fergdawgster () gmail com>]

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Via Foreign Policy's net.effect.

[snip]

Who knew that swine flu could also infect Twitter? Yet this is what appears
to have happened in the last 24 hours, with thousands of Twitter users
turning to their favorite service to query each other about this nascent
and potentially lethal threat as well as to share news and latest
developments from Mexico, Texas, Kansas and New York (you can check most
recent Twitter updates on the subject by searching for “swine flu” and
“#swineflu”). And despite all the recent Twitter-enthusiasm about this
platform's unique power to alert millions of people in decentralized and
previously unavailable ways, there are quite a few reasons to be concerned
about Twitter's role in facilitating an unnecessary global panic about
swine flu.


First of all, I should point out from the very outset that anyone trying to
make sense of how Twitter's “global brain” has reacted to the prospect
of the swine flu pandemic is likely to get disappointed. The “swine
flu” meme has so far  that misinformed and panicking people armed with a
platform to broadcast their fears are likely to produce only more fear,
misinformation and panic.

[snip]

More:

http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/25/swine_flu_twitters_powe
r_to_misinform

- - ferg


p.s.  Here's something a bit more useful -- a Goggle Maps mash-up that
tracks the swine flu cases:

http://googlewatch.eweek.com/content/google_maps/google_mapping_swine_flu_e
pidemic.html?kc=rss


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-- 
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawgster(at)gmail.com
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

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