The Internet’s Latest Hack

Hoaxes have been around long before modern day social media. Individuals used to send scam or chain emails to one another that promoted taking some action that would save them from a seemingly existent threat. Even text message hoaxes existed before smartphones, but they were often more easily identifiable, as they would threaten a monster […]

Read more "The Internet’s Latest Hack"

Google Before You Believe

You saw all your friends post it, maybe not all your friends. But the innocent ones who don’t understand Instagram would never send an unbranded piece of content like that. The latest “viral hoax,” an Instagram privacy change, making those panic under the notion that Instagram has the rights to the photos you publically uploaded […]

Read more "Google Before You Believe"

Hoaxing to fame: an internet story

The rise of social media as a form of mass communication has changed the face of society and how we communicate with each other. No longer are we limited to the few people we gather around us but now our messages can be heard all over the globe. We can spread information instantly to thousands or millions of people instantly.  Some people see this as an opportunity to spread misinformation or hoaxes. Many of these hoaxes are completely harmless little jokes that people like to play.

Some of them can be very dangerous and spread incredibly misleading or downright false information.

People can create these in order to put their own spin on any number of topics. From skewing how we see politicians and celebrities to causing panic and unnecessary anxiety among the people. The 2016 US presidential election was full of internet hoaxes about both of the candidates. It seemed like every other week some new Hoax would pop up claiming that “Hillary Clinton is dying” or “Donald Trump wants to go to war with NATO” these were exclusively pushed for political reasons. This seems to be the underlying reason for some of the more prominent internet Hoaxes in our time. It is fully expected that we will begin to see more of these types of hoaxes as this next election cycle really starts to get moving

 

Sources

https://web.stanford.edu/~gentzkow/research/fakenews.pdf

Twitter

Read more "Hoaxing to fame: an internet story"

Stop Falling for the Hoax

As consumers, we are overexposed to content because it is being produced 24/7. We are unconscious consumers unable to filter through the clutter to reach our own logical decisions about what to believe. This is why we fall for viral hoaxes. When a majority of people are believing what turns out to be a hoax, […]

Read more "Stop Falling for the Hoax"

NHsmc Blog Post 1

Internet hoaxes are weird. They occupy our minds for maybe a week (if they’re lucky), and then they’re gone. Some people liken them to fake news, but to me they are even less than that. They are not trying to spread false information about a certain politician or get people to vote for a certain […]

Read more "NHsmc Blog Post 1"

Internet Hoaxes: Vicious or Harmless?

As individuals become more able to contribute to social media, internet hoaxes have become more easily spreadable. I’m sure people have different reasonings for starting internet hoaxes. Some may start them experimentally—just how far can one rumor spread? They might want to test the boundaries of social media and see if they can create a […]

Read more "Internet Hoaxes: Vicious or Harmless?"

Will You Click This Link?

Today’s society is based off of this game of likes, and whoever achieves the highest amount of likes, as well as outreach, wins. People will do anything to get there, even if it means tricking others in order to personally achieve this new found success. Social media hoaxes may seem harmless on the surface, but […]

Read more "Will You Click This Link?"