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False quote information cascade

http://continuations.com/post/5189184538/fake-quotes-and-information-cascades

In this article, the author talks about an information cascade in which a popular quote was mistakenly attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr. on the internet. Many people posted a quote online and attributed it to MLK to talk about the assassination of Osama bin Laden. The author explains that the internet can both prevent and facilitate information cascades of incorrect information. Users can easily verify information which would prevent information cascades of incorrect information to occur. However, users can also easily share, re-tweet, etc. articles and other sources of information that are incorrect. The end of the article warns readers to verify their information before posting it.

It is interesting to think about how this cascade of incorrect information got started. In class we talk about how information cascades get started when two people make the same decision which is viewed by other people. Obviously, visibility is very easy in this situation as people can see the posts of many other people in one place. So if two people in this case falsely attributed the quote to MLK, it would be very easy for this information cascade to occur. Clearly, in this case, the users did not verify their information.

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