Social Media’s Negative Effects On Information Cascades
The rapid and easy access to information via social networks enables users to know about the latest breaking news story within seconds from their Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Unfortunately, it is very easy for information to be misinterpreted and then spread as rumors. For example, during the 2015 terrorist attacks on Paris, many people clicked the popularized hashtag #PrayForParis to see the latest updates and information about the situation. However much of the top tweets and posts were incorrect as people utilized Photoshop to create fake scenarios, such as someone who photoshopped a viral photo of a Sikh man wearing a suicide bombing vest, which was completely false. Additionally, Uber received backlash with a fake article being circulated that claimed they surged prices during the attacks.
The reason many of this misinformation went viral is due to Information Cascades. Due to the large amounts of retweets, favorites, shares, etc., people neglected to fact check the articles and tweets they were sharing and instead relied on the reinforcement of others’ in order to decide what to share and post. Information Cascades can also lend themselves to recent events concerning the 2016 US Presidential Election. For example, right after the election, Trump supporters were trying to alleviate the backlash about Trump’s intense policies concerning legalization of gay marriage. A friend of mine shared an article regarding Trump’s stance on gay marriage in which he seemed accepting of it. However, she shared the article because many other people were sharing it, and neglected to see the article’s date was from 2014, prior to him making his very conservative remarks about the issue. As a result of posting this article, a bunch of her Facebook friends, particularly weak ties who had the correct information began to comment on her post. This is an example of an information cascade used in a negative light.