In the ‘Whispers’ episode of BBC Radio Four’s Digital Human programme, Aleks Krotoski explores how rumours spread both online and in the physical world.
As an example, she looked at how two people were able to spread a rumour that a tiger was running loose in London during the 2011 riots.
Hope untrue!! RT @Twiggy_Garcia: #LondonRiots hearing reports that london zoo was broken into and a large amount of animals have escaped.
— Carm(s) (@CarmKaya) August 8, 2011
Aleks claims we are now in a world of misinformation. For organisations, this means they now have to pay attention to any misinformation or rumours about their products and services, an activity that is often called ‘reputation management’.
Seven minutes into the radio show, Nicholas DiFonzo of the Rochester Institute of Technology states groups believe rumours typically because there is a lack of information from official channels, they don’t trust official channels, or because their friends believe it. People use rumours to figure things out.
This means if there is a gap in information, then rumours may fill that gap. For this reason, it’s important organisations publish their Help files or equivalent on the web, so that there isn’t any uncertainty over what your product can and cannot do. If you don’t, whatever Google serves as an alternative source of information will fill in the gap.
Where people might not trust the official marketing content, they are more likely to trust the technical, instructional information. It’s seen as more ‘truthy’.
What do you think?
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