Social media - hoaxes, jokes and trust online

by Marcia Forbes, guest columnist

VERY EARLY in the morning of November 30, I noticed the back-and-forth tweets. There was nothing on the radio news though. That's odd, I thought, that this could have happened and no one knew. Could that story have been overtaken by the growing quagmire of the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) which raged the night before with the resignation of the minister of transportation, and which drove one TV station into a live news broadcast at about 11:30 p.m.? I thought no, since this DJ is always controversial and dancehall matters rank next to politics as a trigger topic. Then it came on the radio but with the police denying the story of a jailbreak by Vybz Kartel.

It was an unfortunate, attention-seeking blog post that set Twitter ablaze about the escape of Vybz Kartel. The post was intended to pull viewers to the site and it worked - for now. The writer admitted to Twitter that the 'story' was designed to give the website a boost. How short-sighted, I thought, to blog a complete lie just for ratings. Sadly, though, much of what gets posted on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and via blogs is entirely intended to drive ratings, personal or company. Admittedly, I, too, use social media for ratings, but not entirely, as was the objective behind the Kartel jail-break blog. Importantly, I steer clear of lies. News entities overseas, to their great discredit, especially during Journalism Week, without verifying the credibility of the source or checking elsewhere, ran with the story.

hardly apologetic

The seeming absence of remorse on the part of the blogger, who eventually came out to describe the post as a 'haox', as in 'Vybz Kartel Prison Escape 'A Rumor [sic],' Just A Joke Haox [sic] & We Apologise'. That is how it appeared on the website at 3:45 p.m. on November 30, when I last checked. The spelling of hoax and rumour suggest that the 'apology', like the blog post, is being framed as a joke. It was hardly apologetic. Rather, it seemed like yet another cheap publicity stunt, with the writer appearing to gloat about how the post "blow up over Twitter as a trending topics, hit major blogs and news outlets such as MTV, The Week, Fact Magazine, The Metro among others".

The party in question, via Twitter, had the temerity to say that he didn't think people would be "so stupid to believe anything in the story". With that comment, I wondered why he felt anyone would take his site seriously henceforth. Is that how he regards his readers, stupid to believe what he writes? His refusal to take any responsibility for his action was also reflected in this tweet where he put the blame squarely on the media houses, "they didn't even do their dillegence [sic] in following up in a journalistic capacity; which it's [sic] their fault. They went over the top." To her credit, another Twitter user @avahtaylor "held his feet to the fire" and responded, "but you didn't hold yourself to any journalistic standard when you fabricated the story!"

not just a joke

One major objective of researching and writing a book about social media (well, it's really a series of books), is to sensitise youths to the fact that social media is not just a joke. There is a lot of teasing and joking, but real work can and does get done via social media in all its various forms. Importantly, serious things happen as a consequence of material posted on social networks and blogs. One such is that people's reputation can get besmirched, all for a good laugh by some selfish, immature, attention-seeking person.

Such persons should be warned though. Their days of recklessness are drawing to an end as increasingly people are being sued for libellous statements published via these routes. Employers are also scouring the Internet, including social media, for the digital footprints of potential employees. A post like that one would likely put him at the bottom of many employers' list. His response to my criticism of his hoax and joke is that I'm humourless. Eroding trust and showing one to be a liar is no joke.

Marcia Forbes, PhD, is a media specialist, researcher and author of 'Music, Media & Adolescent Sexuality in Jamaica (2010)'.