Twittersphere respects authority, says UW

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Chetan Sharma

Chetan Sharma Jan 12, 2018

Jan 12, 2018

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                <h1>Twittersphere respects authority, says UW</h1>
                <h2><p>Want to stop a rumor on Twitter? Make sure your account sounds official, says a study from the UW. A report published Monday suggests that a few “official” sources can drown out the voices of many individual accounts claiming the opposite.

UW researchers looked at two false online rumors: one</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/csharma-kcts9-org/">Chetan Sharma</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 12, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Want to stop a rumor on Twitter? Make sure your account sounds official, <a href="https://www.washington.edu/news/2016/04/04/the-twittersphere-does-listen-to-the-voice-of-reason-sometimes/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">says a study from the UW</a>. A report published Monday suggests that a few “official” sources can drown out the voices of many individual accounts claiming the opposite.</p><p>UW researchers looked at two false online rumors: one about police raids in Muslim neighborhoods in Sydney, and another about a hijacked WestJet flight to Mexico. In both cases, the rumors died down after WestJet and Australian federal police jumped on their Twitter accounts to correct the rumors. Researchers suggested that it's good policy for organizations to allow their social media workers to respond quickly and flexibly to situations where false information is spreading quickly.</p><p>The study did not consider what would happen if an official Twitter account started the rumor.</p>
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Want to stop a rumor on Twitter? Make sure your account sounds official, says a study from the UW. A report published Monday suggests that a few “official” sources can drown out the voices of many individual accounts claiming the opposite.

UW researchers looked at two false online rumors: one about police raids in Muslim neighborhoods in Sydney, and another about a hijacked WestJet flight to Mexico. In both cases, the rumors died down after WestJet and Australian federal police jumped on their Twitter accounts to correct the rumors. Researchers suggested that it's good policy for organizations to allow their social media workers to respond quickly and flexibly to situations where false information is spreading quickly.

The study did not consider what would happen if an official Twitter account started the rumor.

By Chetan Sharma

Chetan is an editorial intern at Crosscut. He is a senior at the University of Washington studying Civil Engineering and Urban Planning. He's previously worked as a journalist at KUOW and an engineer