FW: Network Effects, Word of Mouth, and Death Panels

Everybody has received at least one forwarded email that claims to know the truth about what a politician was really doing during Vietnam, or in what country a president was actually born.  These are just silly and somewhat annoying rumors, nothing news worthy.  

However, sometimes an email rumor becomes so widespread that news worthy individuals make comments about the lie, and as a result, the news media reports on what is blatantly untrue.  This past November, The Washington Post published a great article that explored the political email rumor mill.  It found that conservatives send the vast majority of blatantly untrue emails that fuel this email rumor mill.  More importantly, it neatly ties this phenomenon into the subject of my blog with this excerpt:

"Changes in the news media landscape have also helped lies to thrive. A generation or more ago, powerful gatekeepers — large newspapers, broadcast networks, a news magazine or two — dominated the dissemination of national news. No more.

“There was a mainstream media that acted as a filter,” says Bill Adair, the editor of PolitiFact. Now, the filter is overwhelmed. “The Internet is a megaphone that spreads conspiracies quickly before there’s anyone to correct the facts,” he says. “There’s no one between your crazy uncle and his address book.”"

This is a very astute observation, and one that I can relate to.  I have a crazy conservative uncle who always forwards me emails.  I love my uncle, but I know that whatever he sends me is junk mail.  I trust his word on matters of life, but just not in matters that involve President Obama’s religion or death panels. 

ICT, in the form of email, has given rumors great reach.  One reason that some of these rumors are able to get so far is because the originators have no concern about the richness of the message.  They have no concern for truth.  The originators use modern day word of mouth, or email, to disseminate their message. 

Whereas I delete the message and keep it from spreading to my network, there are those who read it and believe it.  Furthermore, there are some who read it and are so shocked to find that their president is secretly Muslim that they forward it on to their network.

In this instance, in order for a lie to gain validity in the email rumor mill it must be sent by an individual whose word is trusted in his or her network.  Since most email address books are filled with friends and family, trust already exists.  However, the only people who trust political rumors and are willing to forward the email on are typically already biased.  In the end, you have networks of like-minded people reading, forwarding, and believing the same lies.