Social studies: Online posts rarely dogma yet we still believe

Chicago Tribune - March 15, 2020

Consider the following fictional social media post: “Too bad Company A has 10 people with coronavirus. Gonna hurt sales. I wouldn’t touch those baskets.” No source, no quote, no statistics and no proof. Just a tweet. But it’s out there.

So you, as an employee of Company B, Company A’s biggest competitor, retweet it. Then your co-workers retweet it. Then it’s on Facebook and Reddit and before you can say “Winklevoss Brothers,” Company A’s stock is down, its second-largest buyer cancels its holiday order and suddenly, Company A’s employees are at risk of losing their jobs. Real problems, real results, real damage, all from an unfounded tweet.

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