19th
THE PATRICK SWAYZE DEATH RUMOUR ON TWITTER
Ironically, even though Twitter DID help to spread a false rumor, it was also equally instrumental in extinguishing it. Many, many people retweeted the @peoplemag tweet denying the rumor via his publicist, so this also showed the simultaneous benefits of Twitter. I’d also note that People Magazine didn’t feel that they could put the denial up on their website. What would they write? “Just FYI Everybody, Patrick Swayze is NOT, repeat NOT dead???” And YET it was fine for them to extinguish the rumor via tweet because it’s a much less formal method of communication. An hour or so later, the rest of us conventional media got the official release from the publicist well after it had become clear through Twitter that he was still alive.
