A free resource by Jayne
Cravens
More resources at coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com
(same web site)
What a Small Town Online Campaign
Against
Misinformation Can Look Like
I'm offering this case study because I
was a part of the online community where this attempt at a
misinformation campaign was started, and I want to show that ANY
community, in ANY country, is vulnerable to such myth-spreading:
In June 2017, an image was posted to a
very popular Facebook group that targeted an Oregon small town in
particular. The image claimed to be by a woman who had been to a local
grocery store in the town and who, while in the parking lot, was
accosted by strangers who wanted to buy her baby. A number of things in
the claim and image made the online community skeptical:
- There was an image that was supposedly of the woman
being accosted, taken from across the street. But who took the photo!
Also, there are no security cameras aimed from across the street at
that parking lot.
- The woman claimed to have parked at another business
and walked to the grocery store, carrying an eight-month-old infant.
It was a scorching hot day and the businesses are .4 miles apart.
Below is the fake meme, which I've
tried to watermark throughout with tags to show that it's fake, in case
someone tries to share it as a real warning. It's followed by a
selection of screen captures of posts made by moderators and members of
the group, and these illustrate how the Facebook group members
immediately began trying to debunk the misinformation, as well as a
selection of responses from people willing to believe the story. Then
come screen captures of posts by members of the city's police department
to show how they were trying to respond and debunk the rumors. The last
post is by a police representative who is originally from the town where
this event supposedly happened, who had built strong ties to the
community over the years through proactive outreach (he invited me for
coffee soon after I moved here), and who was a very trusted community
member - all of his trust-building paid off, because as you see very
early on, someone tags him to make sure he is seeing the thread, and
once he posted his response (last screen capture), the controversy quickly
died down. It's an illustration of what I try to say in my long list of
recommendations
on addressing folklore, rumors and urban myths - it's why most of
my recommendations are about the community trust-building that needs to
happen BEFORE any event like this takes place.
In the screen captures, I have masked
the names of all people posting except for myself and the
representatives of the police department - however, note that I have not
masked the name of the city and, as this all from a Facebook group, the
information is public: anyone with a Facebook group could find this
information, with no filters, online. I don't want to embarrass anyone
who believed the meme before it was thoroughly debunked, however,
everyone who posts to Facebook should remember that what they post is,
virtually speaking, forever and easily found online.
In case the thread or the group is ever erased, I also have the entire
conversation, uncensored, in a PDF and am willing to share it with
academic researchers regarding projects related to addressing online
rumors / misinformation.
If you have a sight impairment and are doing academic research and need
these images transcribed for your research, please contact me and I will
be happy to help you.
Intro post
Selection 1
Selection 2
Selection 3
Selection 4
Response from the police 1
Response from the police 2
Since 2004, I have been gathering and sharing examples
of widespread misunderstanding and myth-spreading interfering with
relief and development activities, and government initiatives, including
public health initiatives -- even bringing such to a grinding halt. I
also have extensive list of
recommendations on preventing folklore, rumors and urban myths
from interfering with development and aid/relief efforts and
government initiatives.
Also see Factors
for Success for a Neighborhood or Town-Based Online Community and
Launching & Maintaining
a Successful Online Community for a Neighborhood, Town, City or County
Back to my humanitarian aid and development
resources main page
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