Nobody would really care if this story was a total lie

By Jonathan Anker
updated4:02 PM EDT, Mon October 06, 2014


NEED TO KNOW

  • Site proves it's easier to spread rumors than correct them
  • Or 'How the Three-Breasted Woman Explains Everything About Why We Share Stories Online'




Is Jasmine Tridevil's third breast a hoax?



One of the most truthful of all Internet truisms is, ironically, that the Internet is a giant lie machine. Ain't that so, Three-Breasted Woman?

Never before in the history of mankind has an invention so expertly allowed us to spread gossip, misinformation and your mom's Obama theories.

But you know what else is a giant lie machine? Umm... us. Sophisticated as it is, the Internet didn't share all those Jasmine Tridevil stories by itself. And the worst part about our own fantastic ability to contribute to this lightspeed lie-sharing is how little we seem to care when the true story comes out.

And make no mistake: We really don't care about the true story coming out.

That's what the truth-and-lie tracking website Emergent has made very clear. It takes a look at some of the most popular, but unverified, claims swirling around online -- like that the Batmobile was stolen (false) or that there's an audio recording of the Michael Brown shooting (true) -- and tracks how the story took off and how far it spread. It's like Snopes or PolitiFact's Truth-o-Meter, but with a huge data and social component.

Emergent was created by Craig Silverman, a journalist and fellow at Columbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism. The website is especially valuable (as well as just neat and interesting) at a time when questionable information and phony viral stories now fly around the world from inboxes to pop-up notifications to all-caps tweets.

Silverman's data on the alleged three-breasted woman (contained on the previously unlikely URL "emergent.info/third-breast") includes a "Shares Over Times" breakdown of the degree of certainty attached to the stories reporting on her, either "For," "Observing" or "Against."

As the unbelievable (seriously, it was literally unbelievable) story was debunked, a surge is seen in the number of shares coming from sources which were "Against," or shot down its validity.

But going back to the "We really don't care about the true story coming out." part: Even after Tridevil's attention-seeking backstory was exposed, the number of shares coming from those sources which supported -- or at least didn't question -- her claims remained the same. See?



And it's a trend which pretty much holds up whether we're talking about Comcast,ISIS or ESPN. An incredible tale is often far more shareworthy than the truth and as such, never really dies.

So then, why is the Internet a giant lie machine? Because we like it that way.

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/10...nt?hpt=hp_bn17