Yes, that’s Kevin Spacey, not Jeff Goldblum. Kevin’s the one that scolded everyone over the fake Jeff Goldblum demise stories* during the Michael Jackson newsalanche a few weeks ago. Usually I love Mashable, but in this case, they wasted no time in joining the fray.
Now that the hoopla’s semi-over, here’s more on that!
The point at the end of the Mashable article sums up the problem with online conversations. It said a few unscrupulous users were able to gain momentum from the story, but the bigger implication pointed out by Spacey is that everyone who had retweeted or published anything related to the Goldblum story was complicit in spreading false rumors.
Normally, I’d agree, if that’s what’s really happening here.
People who say with nearly almost definitive realiable alternative confirmation that they know for sure so-and-so is dead, and who do it without providing even a link to a credibile source, have issues. (And of course, opportunists are always lurking since Yea Me! is the new black.)
In this case though, the article takes the journalistic high ground but ends up being right for the wrong reasons. The point that a lot of people miss is that when it comes to online discussions, what is being “spread” is part of any normal conversation you have when something major happens.
Sure, I can agree with their contention that social media eventually filters what’s true or not, but it does that by having to go through all of those rumors and confirmations first. If you look at the screen grab of the updates in that article, you’ll see what I mean.
One or two seem to say for sure that Jeff is dead, while the overwhelming majority seem to question this “fact.” Take Twitter out of the equation for a second though.
This could be you and your friends in a bar when something comes on the news or your friend asks if you heard about what happened to (insert X). Normal back and forth would then have everyone questioning it, saying “No way,” or otherwise confirming they saw it on CNN.
Just because you then carry on that simple act of conversation online doesn’t mean you’re spreading rumors.
Not to complicate things, but we’re also talking about a negative story in this case. What about the “rumors” planted by PR people for an upcoming CD release or concert, or getting an actor mentioned on a blog, all to build buzz. Talk about this story, don’t talk about that one. How can you have it both ways?
Afterall, they wouldn’t discuss it if it weren’t true, right?
*Goldblum’s fake death was part of an interent hoax from a site that creates false news items. Since my Jeff Goldblum enabling days are over, you’ll just have to Google it yourself.
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