Social media is replacing television as the next generation’s source of entertainment and news. As YouTube is generally considered the new generation of MTV, Twitter is considerably on its way to being seen as the new generation of CNN. The little blue bird has elevated itself beyond the term ‘social network’ and is now considered to be an ‘information service’. However, this conduit of citizen journalism should not always be taken as a legitimate news source. Yesterday ‘RIP Mick Jagger’ became a trending topic; Mick Jagger isn’t dead, but he is another entry in the long list of celebrity death hoaxes that have plagued the site.
Jagger: Not Dead
How long a list you may ask? 2010 averaged more than one death hoax of a major celebrity a month. 2011 has already seen Nelson Mandela (he of South African legend status), Justin Beiber (he of teenage girls’ bedroom walls), and Bill Cosby (he of pudding pops) declared dead in 140 characters. The frequency and popularity of these hoaxes have exposed the weakness of Twitter as a news source; without editorial oversight there is no distinction between a well done hoax and a genuine breaking news story.
The most intriguing story of this type began in mid-December 2010, as rumours of Morgan Freeman’s passing spread across the Twittersphere. The initial tweet contained no link to give it any credibility, yet it appeared entirely credible. How? Read it yourself:
@originalcjizzle “RT @CNN: Breaking News: actor Morgan Freeman has passed away in his Burbank home<< wow legendary actor #RIPmorganfreeman.”
Freeman: Not Dead
The tweet appeared to come from CNN’s official Twitter account. The tweet itself contained a link to said Twitter account (@CNN automatically becomes a clickable link to the account) yet even with a link that could debunk the sitting right there, #RIPmorganfreeman was a trending topic by the end of the day, with CNN forced to issue a debunking themselves.
Everyone’s favourite social media scientist, Dan Zarrella, managed to grab a snapshot of the anatomy of a Twitter death hoax on January 15th 2011, as Nelson Mandela received the 140 character eulogy treatment. The phrase ‘RIP Nelson Mandela’ first appeared on Twitter around 8.40am GMT, and was trending by 9.40am; but it wasn’t until 1pm that tweets criticising the hoax began to be widely retweeted, and at nothing close to the volume of the fake tweets.
There's a pattern to these captions (hint: Not Dead)
What does all this mean for the legitimacy of Twitter’s claim to the title of ‘news service’? Interestingly, not much; in the wake of Michael Jackson’s actual passing in 2009, a group of celebrities made the rounds of the Twitter dead pool and since then the service has only gone from strength to strength.
The hoaxes do, however, bring up questions as to whether people actually read things before they retweet them, or whether the newsfeed style of Twitter has turned its users into ‘Titrologues;’ skimming the headlines and happily accepting, believing and spreading bite-size chunks of information, declining to research any further than their Twitter app even when confirmation is only one click away. So, blog reader, ask yourself; do you verify before you retweet, or are you a titrologue?
About The Author
David Shawcross is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library. He has a degree in History and Politics from the University of Reading. David interned at Social Media Library in Spring 2010, blogged here for a bit, and now he’s back. You can catch him on Twitter at @DaveyxStone and blogging here
Social Media vs The Law
It’s been an interesting few months for social media and civil disobedience in the UK; two of the biggest stories have been Paul Chambers losing his appeal for the #twitterjoketrial, sparking an intriguing protest; while the Metropolitan Police have been scrutinised through Twitter and YouTube for their actions at protests.
Both stories feature legal precedents being set, injustices being protested, mass public mobilisation and, handily, snappy Twitter hashtags. These are the stories of #twitterjoketrial and #demo2010, and what their ramifications may mean for social media as a whole.
#twitterjoketrial
#twitterjoketrial
The #twitterjoketrial is an intriguing case study in the power of social media. On January 6th 2010, when snow not unlike that seen by the UK in the past few days closed Doncaster’s Robin Hood Airport, a frustrated Paul Chambers tweeted;
“Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!”
The message went relatively ignored by Chambers’ followers; it was poised to become one of the many humorous empty threats posted on Twitter. Then an employee of that airport decided to log in to Twitter and search ‘Robin Hood Airport.’ Discovering the tweet, the employee was bound by duty to inform their higher authorities, who in turn informed the police. In seven days Paul Chambers was arrested by anti-terrorist officers at his workplace, his life turned upside down in 140 characters.
The penalty handed down by the judge at Doncaster County Court was a relatively tame £1,000 fine, but Chambers also received a crippling criminal record and swift dismissal from his accountancy job. Last month Chambers lost his appeal against the decision as the court decided that they were ‘satisfied that [he] proved the necessary mens rea and that [he] was, at the very least, aware that his message was of a menacing character.’
Much has been written across the blogosphere concerning the verdict, particularly the fact that Chambers was ‘prosecuted under a law aimed at nuisance calls – originally to protect “female telephonists at the Post Office” in the 1930s – rather than specific bomb hoax legislation, which requires stronger evidence of intent,’ but the most damning criticism has come from Twitter. Observers and lawyers alike were tweeting live from the appeal courtroom, keeping the interested world abreast on updates immediately. When Judge Jacqueline Davis’ handed down her decision Twitter erupted into the kind of scorn that can only be contained in 140 characters. Then something much more interesting than reckless Tweets began to pop up; willing and purposeful social disobedience.
The hashtag #twitterjoketrial had been trending throughout the day, in the evening it was joined by #iamspartacus. Taking their cue from the classic Kubrick film, the Twitterati stood united in defiance of the verdict, tweeted out the original message by their thousands, and dared Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service to make good of the legal precedent they had just set. There have been no prosecutions related to #iamspartacus, but the precedent that a tweet can lead to arrest still stands in the books; regardless of your view of the verdict, tweeting just got introduced to personal responsibility.
#demo2010
#demo2010
The recent student protests against the planned rise in tuition fees are an example of a new social media phenomenon in their own right, being organised almost exclusively through social media channels and trending throughout the protests. They are also examples of Twitter providing a less ‘polished’ view of major events than official statements or the news media may give.
Twitter users on the scene in London were invaluable for TV news channels covering the protests, which have lately been keen to crowdsource their commentary, but they soon became the bane of the Metropolitan Police Service. Interestingly, the #demo2010 hashtag did not become a trending topic on November 24th 2010, though it had trended at the previous protest and had just as much activity. Twitter denies censorship, but Twitter has indeed censored certain topics from trending in the past; when Prince William and Kate Middleton announced that their wedding would be on the same day as Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun’s, Twitter basked in the irony, yet only Braun’s name trended.
While there are many social media stories to be taken from the student protests, one of the more interesting is the use of social media to erase police deniability. The Metropolitan police officially denied that their officers had charged the crowd on horseback during the ‘kettling’ of the protest, then this happened. That is a video of police horses directly charging at a camera lens, uploaded to YouTube. Video footage has been exposing police brutality since Rodney King, but never has it been so accessible or easy to broadcast as through social media.
In the aftermath of the protests the Metropolitan Police saw fit to order the take down of a blog, ‘Fitwatch,’ which published tips to help the protesters avoid being identified and picked up by the police. As with #iamspartacus, people sprang into action, with mirror sites quickly appearing, making a mockery of the idea of censorship. The justification was that the site was perverting the course of justice, but the implications are much more wide-reaching; the police can apparently shut down websites with just a strongly worded letter, and they’re looking to solidify that power.
There has been much panic about the easily exploitable nature of these powers and the loss of civil liberties, but, unless Britain becomes explicitly censored as in China, social media will likely provide the public with a series of checks and balances. The authorities are duty bound to scrutinise the shadier side of the web but, through social media, the public will no doubt scrutinise their every move.
#conclusion
So, on the one hand, the public can now be arrested for flippant tweeting and their UK domains can be shut down for illegal blogging while, on the other hand, the public have now shown both the means and will to organise against and scrutinise injustice and abuses of power.
These stories are far from over; Paul Chambers intends to appeal once again and the police powers have not yet been ratified. Their conclusions carry serious ramifications for online civil liberties, and the legal atmosphere of social media in the UK – they’re worth keeping an eye on.
About The Author
David Shawcross is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library. He has a degree in History and Politics from the University of Reading. David interned at Social Media Library in Spring 2010, blogged here for a bit, and now he’s back. You can catch him on Twitter at @DaveyxStone and blogging here