Mexico-Media fenzy of fear mongering and alarm over swine flu.
UNITED STATES-FEAR MONGERING AND PANIC.
It seems that in the latest 24 hours, Twitter has been affected by the swine flu. It seems indeed strange, but with thousands of users searching the service for "swine flu" or "#swineflu" for the latest developments concerning this potentially lethal disease that spread out in Mexico, Texas, Kansas and New York, Twitter managed to spread only rumors that built up toward spreading an unnecessary global panic concerning the swine flu.
It seems that without a centralized authority, panicked and misinformed people from around the world have managed to misinform and spread people among other people in viral way.
While Google has done a great job in filtering out the relevant results for the flu epidemic, there has been no such thing with Twitter. This is because Twitter was designed to allow people to talk freely about anything they want. It is obvious that when something big happens in the world, there are lots of opinions that are not well constructed and that should not be considered if you are trying to find out the facts. In addition, because having more people to follow you is a great thing in Twitter, a lot of users have posted conversations about the swine flu only for this reason, while spreading undocumented opinions.
There are few situations where censor should be applied. But when it becomes a matter of global panic, my opinion is that letting everyone sum up their misinformed fears in 140 characters is not serving the purpose Twitter was built for.
If anyone does not get the feel of viral panic when they read the following conversation, then maybe we are wrong:
I’m concerned about the swine flu outbreak in us and mexico could it be germ warfare? (link)
In the pandemic Spanish Flu of 1918-19, my Grandfather said bodies were piled like wood in our local town….SWINE FLU = DANGER (link)
Good grief this swine flu thing is getting serious. 8/9 specimens tested were prelim positive in NYC. so that’s Tx, Mexico and now Nyc. (link)
Short Ribs! How long before the Swine Flu hysteria crashes the pork market? 2 hours? 3? (link)
be careful of the swine flu!!!! (may lead to global epidemic) Outbreak in Mexico . 62 deaths so far!! Don’t eat pork from Mexico !! (link)
Swine flu? Wow. All that pork infecting people….beef and chicken have always been meats of choice (link)
SIMPLE CURE FOR THE NEW BHS (BIRD/HUMAN/SWINE FLU) AS REPORTED ON TV LAST NIGHT IS THE DRUG TAMIFLU….ALREADY A PRESCRIPTION ON THE MARKET (link)
Be careful…Swine Flu is not only in Mexico now. 8 cases in the States. Pig = Don’t eat (link)
Most Twitter users have relied on ordinary people’s posts on Twitter for building their opinion. Indeed, you could rely on the conversations expert sources post on Twitter, but they are hardly any. The ones that are present on Twitter should be prioritized in the search results. At least, if there is reason for panic, let us find out from people that DO know what they are talking about.
Unfortunately, there are lots of people that rely on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter for building an opinion. This was indeed fueled by the fact that the only official agency that could be turned to regarding this matter, The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention was posting updates at a few hours interval. Give thought to the fact that all shouts are as powerful in a conversation. It is quite difficult to balance one documented shout in a few hours against thousands of misinformed and panicked opinions that post each minute.
My honest opinion is that an international institution should censor online conversations regarding this matter, because they spread unnecessary panic around the world. But that will lead to a precedent, and it is a free world (well, at least almost free) where anyone can say whatever they like. Democracy of this kind is quite dangerous.
New York Times have recently published an article that exposed corporations like Starbuck, Dell and Whole Foods that are using Twitter to monitor and even shape conversations regarding their brands. Panic is the most dangerous thing in the world and now it seems that it too can be shaped using Twitter.
When dealing with this great instrument of shaping human minds, cyber-attacks seem to be more plausible than ever. A short example of this kind of cyber attack happened in 2007 when messages aimed at the Russian speaking population of Estonia instructed them to drive their cars at no more than 5 Km/H at a specific time of the day. This led to a hold-up in traffic. It seems that all it takes is 1% of the population’s opinion to be shaped for consequences that affect the entire city.
Global pandemics are way more dangerous (or at least the idea of one) than a traffic jam. This is why Twitter’s role in shaping opinions on a massive scale is an idea that should be dealt with one way or another.
