The reporting mechanism that was used to relay the false
information was twitter. More and more often people are turning to social media
to get their news because it not only substantially faster but it also provides
a multitude of perspectives. These perspectives in the longer term lead to a
natural vetting process. It is something that we are all grateful for. The fall
of the market could have lasted substantially longer and as a result had a
stronger impact.
Maybe it is the pessimist in me but I began looking at the
event and wondered if there was a way to take advantage of that situation that
anybody might see or was it just an interesting little thing that happened.
It didn’t take me long of course to recognize that with that
fast a shift that if a person or persons could predict that the event was going
to happen then they could make a substantial profit.
I also figure that if somebody had sinister intent that
perhaps they might make effort to make such events more long lasting. Then it occurred
to me that people with sinister intents might also be those looking to make
substantial profits.
So here is my question. Do we need social media
investigators? Twitter has a natural vetting process as people report events
like this but do we need more? What kind of harm is our society being exposed
to through the use of social media?
Government has begun using social media and is beginning to recognize
the power that this new technology represents. With new technology there is
always a growing period in which both intentional harm and unintentional harm
happens and it is the responsibility of all of us in this open platform
environment to mitigate that our society will face as a result. I am saying it
is a responsibility for all of us because that is after all the nature of the
platform, to spread the responsibility, risk and benefit.
I think that the natural vetting process of information is a
good beginning but if the government is going to protect its citizens I think
there will have to be some additional policing to handle more organized and
intentional risks that are going to be presented through social media. After
all we have already seen the power of organized harassment through social media
and new laws are being written as a result of those case that have led to more
than one suicide.
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