Rumors, False Flags, and Digital Vigilantes: Misinformation on Twitter after the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing

Starbird, Kate; Maddock, Jim; Orand, Mania; Achterman, Peg; Mason, Robert M.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/47257 Copy

Description

Title

Rumors, False Flags, and Digital Vigilantes: Misinformation on Twitter after the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing

Author(s)

• Starbird, Kate
• Maddock, Jim
• Orand, Mania
• Achterman, Peg
• Mason, Robert M.

Issue Date

2014-03-01

Keyword(s)

• crisis informatics
• Twitter
• microblogging
• misinformation
• information diffusion
• rumors
• crowdsourcing

Abstract

The Boston Marathon bombing story unfolded on every possible carrier of information available in the spring of 2013, including Twitter. As information spread, it was filled with rumors (unsubstantiated information), and many of these rumors contained misinformation. Earlier studies have suggested that crowdsourced information flows can correct misinformation, and our research investigates this proposition. This exploratory research examines three rumors, later demonstrated to be false, that circulated on Twitter in the aftermath of the bombings. Our findings suggest that corrections to the misinformation emerge but are muted compared with the propagation of the misinformation. The similarities and differences we observe in the patterns of the misinformation and corrections contained within the stream over the days that followed the attacks suggest directions for possible research strategies to automatically detect misinformation.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2014 Proceedings

Type of Resource

text

Language

english

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/47257

DOI

https://doi.org/10.9776/14308

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Copyright 2014 is held by the authors of individual items in the proceedings. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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