Rumor is information that has not been confirmed, but is spread widely in the absence of verification. Unlike gossip, which is a casual and innocuous social activity, rumors can have serious consequences for individuals and society. A rumor that the school closes early or that a celebrity is in town can cause people to panic.
Social media makes it easy to start and spread a rumor. It is a common myth that rumors are false, but the truth is that a lot of rumors cannot be proven and may never be. Many rumors are simply too inflammatory and unsubstantiated to be taken seriously. However, a small percentage of rumors are true.
According to the researchers, rumors have four components. First, there is anxiety (personality and situational). People who are more anxious or in a stress-inducing situation are more likely to create rumors in order to lift their anxieties. Second, ambiguity is an important factor. When a rumor is unclear, people are more likely to spread it because they are uncertain of its accuracy. Third, importance is another factor. If a rumor is not interesting or does not have a direct impact on people’s lives, they are unlikely to spread it. Finally, evidence is crucial in deciding whether or not a rumor is valid.
The researchers collected a large amount of archived conversations on Twitter and analyzed them. They divided the discussions into four phases based on the rumor development: initiation, escalation, rebuttal, and resolution. For each phase, they looked at the number of messages that were supportive or denying the rumor and how the number of denying messages varied over time. They also looked at the frequency and type of evidence provided.
The researchers found that a rumor’s level of support is stable before and after it has been resolved. A resolving tweet is most effective when it provides proof that the rumor is true or at least plausible. This finding is in agreement with previous studies that have shown that a rumor’s degree of credibility is influenced by its veracity. For example, the rumor that salt would be polluted by the Fukushima nuclear leakage was wildly spread and believed in 2011 because it was relevant to people’s daily lives. The authors conclude that the findings indicate that there are ways to control rumor-spreading processes, such as ensuring that a rumor is factual before it is shared and not promoting a rumor that has no bearing on people’s lives. This would help to decrease the rate at which a rumor is spread and reduce its potential harm. However, this requires that social media platforms prioritize removing false information as quickly as possible. In addition, educating users on how to discern between true and false information is essential to improving the quality of rumor. A good way to do this is by encouraging users to share only the most credible sources of information.