Rumors on Social Media During Emergencies

8 Pages Posted: 30 Jul 2014

See all articles by Yasuaki Sakamoto

Yasuaki Sakamoto

AXA Direct Japan

Huaye Li

Stevens Institute of Technology - School of Business

Yuko Tanaka

National Institute of Informatics

Date Written: July 29, 2014

Abstract

During and after a disaster, victims and others often take to social media sites to share information about conditions, aid, resources and the like. But well-intentioned users can spread rumors that are later found to be false, as they did following the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake, which hampered rescue operations and confused people. To improve the quality of information on social media, we study methods for integrating information provided by crowds in social media environments. In this paper, we review some results from our research showing that crowdsourced critical-thinking and veracity evaluation can be effective in curbing the spread of false information on social media. These findings suggest that crowds can help triage information in order to support the discovery of relevant information on social media during and after emergencies.

Keywords: social media, disaster response, rumor, veracity, crowdsourcing

Suggested Citation

Sakamoto, Yasuaki and Li, Huaye and Tanaka, Yuko, Rumors on Social Media During Emergencies (July 29, 2014). Howe School Research Paper No. 2014-37, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2473601 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2473601

Yasuaki Sakamoto (Contact Author)

AXA Direct Japan ( email )

Japan

Huaye Li

Stevens Institute of Technology - School of Business ( email )

Hoboken, NJ 07030
United States

Yuko Tanaka

National Institute of Informatics ( email )

2-1-2 Hitotsubashi
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo, 1018430
Japan

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